The professional debut of Solomon Islander Benjamin Totori was the foremost feat achieved by islanders abroad in May, with the 22-year-old striker making a pair of appearances off the bench for his new club the Portland Timbers.
The Timbers play in the United States’ second-tier football competition, the USL First Division, which also features representations from Canada and Puerto Rico.
Totori’s first taste of a league that was once home to legendary Brazilian striker Romario was indeed against Romario’s former club, Miami FC, at the Timbers’ PGE Park home on Thursday, 26 May.
Totori was introduced off the bench at half-time but was unable to prevent a 2-0 loss for the home side and was again utilised as a substitute one week later when the Timbers recorded a 1-0 triumph away to Montreal in front of 13,034 spectators.
Portland currently occupy third place in the USL First Division, with Totori bound to receive plenty more chances to replicate his devastating New Zealand Football Championship form in the coming months, with 21 rounds still to play in the regular season.
Elsewhere, the electric form of Kema Jack, one of Melanesia’s truly outstanding young attackers, has been the feature of islander performances in Australia over the past month.
The Papua New Guinean international has turned in a string of impressive showings for his club, Sunshine Coast FC, in the new Queensland State League (QSL).
Alongside countryman David Muta, Jack has scored five times over the past month, including a hat-trick against Logan United in a massive 8-0 win for his club, to ensure that Sunshine Coast FC occupy top spot in the QSL after 10 rounds.
Not to be outdone, Muta has also made his way onto the scoresheet of late, netting once against the Whitsunday Miners a fortnight ago.
The aforementioned Logan United boast Vanuatuan goalkeeper Chikau Mansale in their line up, and unfortunately for the veteran shot stopper, Logan’s defence has proven to be the most penetrable in the QSL thus far, with the south Queensland outfit conceding 39 goals over the course of the opening 10 rounds.
Further south, Fijian international Esala Masi has been at the forefront of the Altona Magic’s mid-season purple patch – netting four goals in three games to push the Magic to seventh place in Victoria’s Foxtel Cup with 15 rounds played.
The stalwart marksman scored all three goals for Altona in their 3-2 triumph over the Preston Lions on 18 May, before adding another one week later when the Magic were held to a 1-1 draw against Green Gully.
Masi’s team-mate, Solomon Islander Henry Fa’arodo has also been in top form for the Magic – starting each of the club’s past four matches and contributing the equalising goal at home to the Australian Institute of Sport on 10 May.
The fortunes of Samoan custodian Pasi Schwalger in Victoria have not been as positive, with Schwalger’s Fawkner Blues suffering three losses over the past month to slide to thirteenth place of the fourteen team Foxtel Cup.
Schwalger has started each of Fawkner’s last four matches, the most recent of which the Blues will be hoping to be a turning point of their flagging season – a 1-1 draw at home to Western Suburbs.