American Samoa and Samoa battle down to the wire

Samoa and American Samoa U-16 football teams each had a tough clash at OFC Under 16 Championship Qualifier in Tonga.

Samoa went on though to batter American Samoa 10-3 at the Qualifier.

The Samoa coached, Martin Tamasese side opened the match well, but was offhand which allowed American Samoa back in.

“I think the boys when they scored those four goals they think it’s done but I sent a message that the game is 90 minutes,” he said.

Tamasese is also pleased that his side isn’t dependent on the goal scorers, with the team’s performance showing they are skilful at finding the net from all over the park.

“Our forwards are doing really well. But as I’ve said, all 18 of our players are all the best from Samoa so they’re all strong players.”

It was extremely an unsatisfactory result for American Samoa’s coach, Ruben Luvu, who was surprised to see his team overrun by the Samoans.

“It’s really disappointing, we didn’t expect an outcome like this, the score.”

“I think the goalkeeper wasn’t really confident and after a few mistakes he just lost even more confidence,” Luvu said.

Cook Island’s coach, Anthony Samuela lamented the opportunity the team could’ve had on the field.

“I’m really disappointed with the fact we had chances up there but just couldn’t put it away,” Samuela said.

“We tried to move the ball forward and attack more in this game. Counter attack and hold it at the back and push forward. We had chances we just couldn’t finish them.”

The OFC Under 16 Championship Qualifier returns for the final day of action at the Loto-Tonga Soka Centre on Friday.

     

Author: 
Talaia Mika