PNG Kapuls

“To be honest, I am very happy and honoured to captain the national team once again and I’m looking forward to leading the boys to the Pacific Games,” said Foster.

“It will be a challenging task for me to lead this bunch of boys, especially without regular captain David Muta and David Browne who were ruled out due to injury.

“However, I have been given a lot of support from my other senior teammates, including Koriak Upaiga, Raymond Gunemba, Daniel Joe, Nigel Dabinyaba and Alwin Komolong which takes a load off from my shoulders and I am playing the role well.

Coach, Flemming Serritslev said the game was won in the same way as the first game last week in Port Moresby.

“This time, since we were equal in playing numbers, we had the upper hand for most of the match.

‘We knew that victory in the second match was absolutely necessary to continue in the World Cup qualifiers.

“Now that we have reached this first goal, our next goal is to beat the Solomon Islands in the Solomon Islands,” said Serritslev.

Serritslev added on that the feeling in camp was good and the team deserved the win.

Kapuls captain David Muta told Loop PNG this morning that it was their first time to play against a World Cup team.

In the first five minutes of the game, Muta felt that they could match up their rival’s skills. However, as the game wore on, Iran proved to PNG’s national team that there’s a reason why they are 27^th FIFA ranked while we are 159^th.

“Football is all about 90 minutes,” says the Kapuls captain.

“We need to work harder.

The Papua New Guinea FA has recently confirmed friendlies against Iran and Malaysia.

The Kapuls, who sit out the start of Stage 3 as Tahiti and Solomon Islands get Group B underway in their absence, are not cooling their heels with the match against 27th ranked Iran.

Both friendlies will be played in Shah Alam, Malaysia, with the OFC Nations Cup finalists facing Iran on November 11 and Malaysia on November 14.

With the team spirit still on fire after the OFC nations Cup final last weekend, the Kapuls outdid Malaysia with a stunning victory with two goals from PNG's utility Tommy Semmy.

PNG bagged the first goals with a set play from Raymond Gunemba and Tommy Semmy.

Gunemba placed a left footy through for Semmy to easily slide the ball to the back of the net in the early minutes.

Minutes later, Semmy scored his second with a header that slipped off the goalkeeper's hand before he made a second attempt with a touch from the tip of his boots to find the net.

The second half grew more tense with the rowdy crowd begging Kapuls to score at least a goal but New Zealand defended well until nil all for fulltime.

Then, came the extra time as both sides look tired and weary but continue the fight but again went off scoreless on both halves of the game.

The moment of truth than pops in when the two teams chose their best to go for the shootout.

With an awesome crowd, it gave PNG team the boost to play with confidence against the favorites.

Thirteen minutes into the game, PNG flanker Micheal Foster found an opening to belt a powerful right footy into the goal to lead 1-0.

Samoans fought hard to cross into the PNG territory but faced a strong Komolong-brother combination that held them off the half-way line.

Raymond Gunemba then bagged the second goal for PNG in the 32nd minute with a stunning dribble in front of the goal mouth, avoiding the Samoan opponents before slotting it behind the net for 2-nil.

After leading 2-0 at half time, the host team added six more goals on the board, beating the helpless Samoans in a one-sided match.

PNG’s flanker Michael Foster opened the second half with his second goal before striker Nigel Dabinyaba added another point for a clear 4-0 lead.

Raymond Gunemba finds the net once again after a cross for his second to put PNG on the line for a decider to qualify as forward Koriak Upaiga sealed the deal with a chip over the goalkeeper for a 6-0 lead.

Raymond Gunemba's second goal straight after half time gavePNG a clear lead before Tahiti hit back with a  10 men team after captain Nicolas Vallar was sent off for a dangerous tackle to Raymond Gunemba.

Minutes later Tahiti slammed in two goals to level with PNG.

With just 15 minutes before fulltime Tahitian striker Teaonui Tehau slotted in the second goal from a corner from a nicely place kick  to see  the  find the net to force the draw.

Tahiti held off the attacking PNG side until the final whistle.