☆ Pacific + Australasia women's soccer / le soka a tamaitai

Discussion in 'Women's International' started by sbahnhof, Jan 2, 2020.

  1. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    O le tele o sulu e maua ai se figota.

    Strength comes not from one alone but from many.
    - (Samoan proverb)

    [​IMG]

    PAN-CONFEDERATIONAL, this area is part of 4 different football confederations: the OFC, plus parts of the AFC, Conmebol and Concacaf.

    I'm making a space for Pacific football and footballers especially because of the gross ignorance about Oceania. The countries have clear disadvantages in soccer due to population, wealth, and the strength of other sports there. But faraway commentators often treat whole countries as a joke while not even learning to say their names. (remember, it isn't just disrespectful..it's racist) :oops:

    Also this thread shall seek the real answers to the questions, "Why can't anyone beat New Zealand?", "Why can't New Zealand beat anyone?", and "Which confederation will Australia join this week?" (For Australia there's a specific Matildas thread and W-League threads, use them)

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] As well as the OFC's current secondary powers Papua New Guinea and Fiji, there might be more to come from New Caledonia, whose youth team gave a strong showing in 2019 as runner-up in the qualifiers for the U20 Women's World Cup. The next senior OFC Women's Nations Cup isn't until 2022.
    At the 2019 Pacific Games, Samoa won an unprecedented silver medal, as PNG won gold.

    [​IMG] Tonga showed how volatile the OFC can be, after two huge defeats to New Zealand and Fiji in 2018, followed by an upset 1-0 win over the Cook Islands, who they'd never beaten before.

    A Spirited Tongan Squad
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=62OXVD2IAbM
    [​IMG]


    [​IMG] The eastern Pacific islands are more famous for turtles, volcanoes and moai statues, but people do play football there - I'm still very curious about the planned match that Chile's most successful club Colo-Colo might play in Rapa Nui (Easter Island), against the representative women's team CF Rapa Nui.

    [​IMG] In the 2015 Women's World Cup, Ecuador's Denise Pesántes became the first Galápagos player in a World Cup:
    https://es.fifa.com/womensworldcup/news/desde-galapagos-con-un-balon-2648924 (Archive)

    "In Galápagos, the passion for football is something that is lived very beautifully," Pesántes told FIFA.com, eager to make her island known from a different perspective than travel agencies. "A lot of people think we don't have the time or space to play football. But we can do it Monday through Sunday, from eight in the evening to midnight. Men, women, everyone plays."

    Other threads on women's football worldwide [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
    Africa | Caribbean + Central America |

    Middle East + mid-Asia | East Asia |
    South America clubs | Europe clubs | WNT without a thread
     
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  2. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    A couple of stories in Australia:

    [​IMG][​IMG] The Australian Indigenous Football Championships began in 2018 and were played again in November 2019, the women's final being won by Maliyans United from northern NSW.

    A united women's team, the Indigenous Koalas, won the gold medal at the international Arafura Games in Darwin.
    "Indigenous Football’s new dawn" - FTBL
    https://thewomensgame.com/news/indigenous-footballs-new-dawn-526007 (Archive)

    [​IMG] [​IMG] The pan-African and Afghan communities in Sydney played a representative women's match at Jensen Park organized by the African Nations Sports Association. The Africa XI won the game 2-0.
     
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  3. Lohmann

    Lohmann Member+

    Arminia Bielefeld
    Germany
    Feb 24, 2020
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Is Koalas a good name for a sports team?:confused:
    They sleep the whole day.:sleep::sleep::sleep:
     
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  4. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    #5 sbahnhof, Mar 20, 2020
    Last edited: Mar 20, 2020
    The Olympics were so much simpler in 2000.

    The Games - "Medals / Doves / 100 Metre Track"
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=17NKos-7GCo


    But never mind fixture pileups - there's a results backlog... These were last year's leagues in Australia, where the 2019/20 W-League Final is on Saturday.

    Each state and territory has a women's league (New South Wales has two), mainly branded as the National Premier League: NPLW or WNPL.

    [​IMG]

    Victoria: The league final at AAMI Park in Melbourne had the 2018 champions Bulleen against 2019's 1st-placed team Calder Utd (in dark blue).
    Bulleen, with Caitlin Friend in attack, had won two of the matchups against the high-scoring Calder team, who powered through the semifinal 6-0 v South Melbourne. Calder's US-born Catherine Zimmerman was the league's top scorer with 33.

    NPLW Victoria Grand Final, Calder United vs Bulleen Lions - www.youtube.com/watch?v=kngf7ILlO9c
    [​IMG]


    New South Wales: Another exciting and close final in Sydney at Glenwood's Valentine Sports Park, where the University team's blue-and-yellows lost narrowly in 2018. After the Uni's very strong record in the 2019 season with Cortnee Vine up front, they went to the final as favourites against Sydney's Northern Tigers, whose defence included the experienced GK Eliza Campbell and DF Servet Uzunlar.

    Sydney University SFC v Northern Tigers FC (full match) - www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL2aKCGmtZE&t=29m10s
    [​IMG]



    Queensland: Of the two finalists in the 2019 season, Brisbane's historic club Lions FC had a sometime W-Leaguer, Tegan Riding with 30 goals, while the opponent Moreton Bay's striker Rylee Baisden scored 33 to top the chart. Later it earned Baisden a call-up to the Brisbane Roar.

    Final - Lions FC vs. Moreton Bay United, Highlights
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGYNbfDi_8k
    [​IMG]


    South Australia: Defending champions of 2018, Adelaide City, were going for a league and cup double in this one:

    NPLW SA Grand Final, West Adelaide vs Adelaide City
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq9JS7qM_uw&t=14m04s
    [​IMG]


    Canberra (Capital Football): The champs Belconnen Utd met Canberra FC, in a rematch of the previous final:
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=otUODPmAOXE&t=30s
    [​IMG]


    Inter-state: There's still talk but no action on a national FFA Cup for women's local clubs around Australia. As it stands, the nearest thing is the Challenge Cup, a match between teams from Sydney and Canberra. Similar to their 1-0 result in 2018, this time it was Sydney University 3 (Russell ‘47, Flannery ‘51, Vine ‘83), Belconnen United 2 (Munoz ‘45, Rasschaert ‘60).
     
  5. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    Western Australia: Only a small premier division but a long schedule, as 6 clubs played each other 4 times.
    Finally the top 4 met in the playoffs, and southern Perth club Queen's Park, 2018 runners-up, won the 2019 final 2-1 v Northern Redbacks.
    In 2020 the league will become an 8-team 'NPL', on a par with the big five leagues, but apparently this new league won't include the state champions.

    Northern Territory: Hellenic AC retained the Darwin Women's Premier League title in another final v Casuarina FC, 3-0. The 2020 season kicked off with new team the NT Yapas.

    Northern New South Wales: A high-scoring final in the WPL
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Q-VvWSF8w
    [​IMG]

    The league is looking at becoming a member of the FFA-backed National Premier Leagues in 2021.

    Tasmania: The WSL title was decided by the very last match of the top 2 teams - league leader Zebras FC went into the final game level on points with Olympia FC (47pts). Madison Chambers of Olympia was voted the league's best player.

    WSL R20 Hobart Zebras v Olympia Warriors at KGV Football Park
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LLvJDXqVuE&t=1m50s
    [​IMG]
     
  6. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] Fiji: Sport Matters called it "the sporting hub of the Pacific Islands". Fiji's football team were at the first OFC Women's Championship in 1983 but achieved their best result in 2018. Teenage striker Trina Davis scored 9 goals in that championship and the team were runners-up, displacing PNG in the semifinal, 5-1.
    https://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/news/fiji-bask-in-pacific-breakthrough (Archive)

    Fiji won one other silver medal, in the U19 championship in 2017, with some of the same players. Luisa Tamanitoakula and Cema Nasau combined for 11 goals in the round robin. One of the youngest international goalscorers was Fiji's 15-year-old Maria Lewavuni in 2011.

    Most Fijian internationals play in the Fiji Women's Senior League, the successful club Ba winning the first 4 titles. The league started in 2016/17 after 15 years of the women's Inter-District Championship. The IDC returned in 2019, so Fiji now runs both the women's league and cup.
    The IDC final was Labasa v Ba two years running, 2-0 (in Feb 2019) and 2-3 (March 2020), while capital club Suva has won 5 titles since 2001, see RSSSF.

     
  7. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] Papua New Guinea women's team began playing in 1989, and their first trophy was a 'Pacific Cup' in Tonga in 1996, the same year the Lakatois got a precious 1-1 away draw with New Zealand.

    Five gold medals in the first five Pacific Games women's football tournaments show the potential in the country, which made the Fifa women's top 50. Luck could even give them some kind of weird randomly-selected 2023 World Cup playoff v Canada or someone. But the status of "Oceania 2nd fiddle" is under threat with their OFC Nations Cup loss – likely a result of an unspecified league "hiatus" until 2018.
    As well as other Pacific nations, PNG football will be competing for status with more popular sports like women's rugby league.

    Women's Soccer: Team PNG Defeats New Caledonia | XV Pacific Games, Port Moresby 2015 (Goal: Marie Kaipu 21') - youtu.be/y53P9cg6DUg
    [​IMG]


    Deslyn Siniu is the longest-serving PNG player, starting in 2003, and she was selected for the 2019 Pacific Games.
    Another member of the '03 women's team is now the coach - Frederica Sakette.

    https://postcourier.com.pg/soccer-coach-sakette-inspires-women/ (Archive)
     
  8. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] New Zealand club soccer, the two national finals:

    The NZ Football National Women's League was in its 17th year, with the seven federations competing from September-December 2019. The defending champions Canterbury United Pride played the final against Northern Lights again, this time in Christchurch:

    National Women's League Grand Final highlights
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWVCTMQwNHk
    [​IMG]


    Top scorer was Emma Rolston of Wellington (Capital Football), 10 goals.

    The local clubs in the regional leagues also play for the nationwide Kate Sheppard Cup. The 2018 winners Dunedin Technical went out in the quarter-final on penalties to Christchurch's Coastal Spirit, the winner of the Canterbury (Mainland) league. But the Spirit were themselves ousted in the final, by Auckland's women's champions.

    Coastal Spirit 0-4 Eastern Suburbs - (Pilley 4', 25', O'Brien 9', 35')
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rhwRwcbwe8
    [​IMG]


    Coronavirus caused the 2020 Cup to be cancelled, although the league competitions are still scheduled.
     
  9. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    Former Samoa player born in NZ, Sarai Bareman is "our woman at Fifa", as the world governing body's Chief Women's Football Officer since 2016.

    During the Covid-19 crisis, she's reached out to her peers in other sports, and spoke about what might happen next.

    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/lockerro.../womens-football-can-flourish-out-of-covid-19 (Archive)
     
  10. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG] Tahiti (French Polynesia) made its international debut in women's football with 4th-place finishes at the Pacific Games 2003 and 2007, but before 2016 there wasn't a women's competition for five years.

    That the senior and junior Championnat Vahine began in 2016 was part of a big effort at the FTF to help women's football to grow. It was rewarded with a 3rd-place result for the national U19s in the 2019 World Cup qualifier, with 9 goals for Babou Tepea and 6 by Tahia Tamarii while missing the final only on penalties.

    Two Tahitian players signed in France and the UK in club football – FW Vaihei Samin at FC Fleury, and centre-mid Kiani Wong at Yeovil and Cardiff. The coach Stéphanie Spielmann is involved in Tahitian women's soccer at all levels.

    [​IMG]
    (L-R) Wong, Spielmann & Samin

    - (Footdelles.com)
     
  11. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG]
    OFC championship, 2010 (CIFA)

    [​IMG] Cook Islands won two women's bronze medals in their first 4 attempts in the OFC, and a bronze at the Pacific Games, and hosted the U19 WCQ well – all of this with one of the world's smallest populations (18,000). Goals by Regina Mustonen were crucial in their 2010 third-place win.

    The women's football league in the NZ-affiliated nation began in 2014, and the national team had the rare luxury of a warm-up tour of Tahiti in 2018. The Cooks FA has also gone with a coach from overseas, Judith Kuipers, appointed in 2019, but she'll have a big job to get back to the podium: the Cook Islands U19s narrowly lost out as a group runner-up in their home tournament.

     
  12. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    How to join a confederation? As demonstrated by the travails of Greenland or Gibraltar, it's not as easy as it looks, even in a smaller confed - and even for Oceanian countries with full sovereignty:
    https://thesefootballtimes.co/2020/...sion-could-mean-for-both-nations-and-the-ofc/ (Archive)

    [​IMG] Kiribati ("kiribas") was one of the women's football teams at the inaugural tournament of the Pacific Games in 2003. Moaniti Teuea became their first goalscorer in a 2-1 loss to Tonga. They've played few internationals despite the FA's Conifa membership. In 2019, Te Runga women's played in China.

    [​IMG] Tuvalu started a 4-club women's league in 2009. The assistant coach of the Euro 2017 women's champions, Netherlands' Foppe de Haan, coached there earlier.
     
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  13. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    #14 sbahnhof, Jun 14, 2020
    Last edited: Jun 14, 2020
    [​IMG] Goalkeeper Jada Whyman is part of an outreach program in Australia, where in 2020 the global uprising over racism coincided with the annual Reconciliation Week. Whyman is one of 13 athletes in a year-long series that aims to improve race relations through meeting and storytelling, including her own story:
    https://ais.gov.au/media-centre/news/whyman-exploring-her-roots-as-part-of-new-ais-program (Archive)

    A significant match in the Northern Territory - as mentioned, the Indigenous NT Yapas team debuted in a single game just before the Covid-19 lockdown. And after 3 months, Australia's first competitive match was the Yapas and the Darwin city champions Hellenic AC, with coverage like they've never seen - (Match report by TWG)
    youtu.be/KGUBWeHe-Mc
    [​IMG]
     
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  14. Lohmann

    Lohmann Member+

    Arminia Bielefeld
    Germany
    Feb 24, 2020
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    With Tuvalu and Kiribati as members OFC should get two guaranteed places at the WWC.:laugh:
     
  15. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
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  16. blissett

    blissett Member+

    Aug 20, 2011
    Italy
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    --other--
    Sob! :x3:
     
  17. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
  18. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] The new league begins in the Solomon Islands, as they look ahead to hosting their first Pacific Games in 2023, also with one eye on the Women's OFC Nations Cup. Despite a past silver medal for the women's U17s, and decades of men's football history, the women's senior internationals have had little success.
    As reported, the current efforts were hampered by Covid-19 restrictions, which have kept out the disease but affected all parts of life:

    Solomon Islands to launch Women's Premier Football League, https://www.rnz.co.nz/international...nds-to-launch-women-s-premier-football-league (Archive)

    And the league has its own song! ♫ I want everyone singing this by the end of the week

    Equals in the Game, performed by AMY and Baka Solomon
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW0eP9_83FM
    [​IMG]
     
  19. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    #20 sbahnhof, Sep 13, 2020
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2020
    [​IMG] New Caledonia voted, a little like old Caledonia (Scotland), around 44% for independence, with a second referendum in the French-administered islands planned in October 2020. Whereas Scottish football already stands alone, an independent New Caledonia might see more changes if it loses the link of the Fédération calédonienne to France's FFF; clubs and players can affiliate to both.

    The national teams achieved good placements in 2017-19, when they finally returned to the Women's OFC cup in 4th place as hosts, and rose to 2nd place in both junior tournaments, with U19s Cassidy Cawa and Jackie Pahoa both scoring in a final 5-2 loss to New Zealand (supposedly NZ's golden generation).
    The first women's team Païta were runners-up in the 2019 Coupe de Calédonie feminine, won on penalties by club ASAF. Men's club Hienghène even won the OFC Champions League, so there's clearly been investment, but women's league structures are still lacking. In August 2020 this web series visited Païta FC and Outchambo captain Dieuma Ideko.

    CALEDOFOOT n°11 : spécial FOOTBALL FEMININ
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdJzxOTdqnI&t=10s
    [​IMG]
     
  20. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
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  21. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    Lechus7 repped this.
  22. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    [​IMG] More from Rapa Nui, Easter Island – the women's rep team played in the Copa Chile in 2009, as the men's famously did, but it wasn't a regular event for either team. The women were drawn for a faraway away match in Santiago de Chile (Archive).

    Vai-Iti Tuki is heavily involved, as the U15s' coach in a prestigious cup in Santiago and as the island team's captain on many occasions, including in Tahiti at the Festival des îles. In Rapa Nui itself, there were tours by Argentinian and Chilean women's teams, though still no Colo-Colo.
    "Vai Iti Tuki is 39 years old, and was also born and raised on the island. She inherited the love of soccer from her father, and like all girls her age, at first she played with boys. ... 'I always put together teams at school, and when I returned from living a few years in Viña del Mar, I noticed that several wanted something more organized.' ... When they got ready to face Colo Colo in November [2019], the social unrest in Chile frustrated them. And while they were training to return to Tahiti to play 11-a-side, Covid-19 appeared." - (Fifa)

    [​IMG]
     
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  23. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
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  24. sbahnhof

    sbahnhof Member+

    Nov 21, 2016
    Aotearoa
    The crescent island chain in the western Pacific, the Mariana Islands, has two women's national teams in the Asian Football Confederation, and as any map will confirm, the U.S. territories are practically at the heart of Asia.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG] Guam had a rare occasion to face off with the other Pacific nations in 2011, their last Pacific Games experience, but it didn't quite work out as they hoped:

    Guam soccer 2011: Kristin Thompson
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwhUdtIWL9k
    [​IMG]


    (if you're in Guam, I don't think those are really 'smaller' nations...)
    [​IMG]

    There's more from the Northern Marianas (NMI) and Guam on their Mycujoo channels.


    [​IMG] And in Hawai'i, the HPU Sharks play in the Division II PacWest college conference with Californian teams. The conference also included BYU-Hawaii's former sports program until 2016. At college Division I level, University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine made a run to the semifinals in 2019 in the Big West conference.
    UH Women's Soccer Breaks Attendance Record vs. UCLA (2014)
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPw2VaT8JCY
     
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