Both Group A matches take place on Saturday with Fiji’s Lautoka hosting Vanuatu newcomers Amicale, and defending champions Hekari United welcoming Solomon side Koloale to Papua New Guinea.
The first of the round’s derbies is also scheduled for Saturday when Tahiti’s Tefana travel to New Caledonia to take on French territorial counterparts Magenta in Noumea. While not much of a local derby in geographical terms – 4600km of Pacific Ocean separate the two countries – both nations have their French ties in common and there is likely to be no love lost between the sides.
Each team will also be particularly eager for a win after suffering losses to New Zealand opposition on Match Day One. Magenta went down 3-0 to Auckland City, while Tefana also shipped three goals in their 3-1 defeat to Waitakere United.
The Kiwi sides’ perfect starts will be under threat on Sunday when Waitakere enjoy home advantage over Auckland at Fred Taylor Park. As with the Magenta-Tefana meeting, there will be plenty of feeling in this game and Auckland will be smarting after their 3-1 loss at home to the same opposition in the ASB Premiership last weekend.
Auckland City co-coach Aaron McFarland, who is in charge of the side with Ramon Tribulietx, was impressed with Waitakere’s performance but thinks Neil Emblen’s men are not as good as last year’s vintage and is confident his side can reverse the Premiership result.
“They have a good set-up and are well-organised. We knew they would try to prey on our mistakes and they did that well,” McFarland says.
“But we were dominant in the first half and we just need to continue that this week and impose ourselves. The O-League is the most important competition we’re in and these games with Waitakere are crucial because history has shown us that both sides are usually in with a shot at the title.”
City will have to make do without star signing David Mulligan, who picked up an injury in that defeat and will be sidelined for around three weeks.
“He has been a great inclusion and is someone the fans enjoy watching because of his ability on free kicks,” McFarland says. “But we are not too concerned about his loss because we have other players who can step up and fill that role.”
One player the City defence will have to keep an eye on is Fijian flyer Roy Krishna, who, despite getting off the mark in that win against Tefana, is not happy with his form in front of goal and is hungry to find the net.
“I want to be in the top three in the Golden Boot,” he says. “So far I haven’t been scoring much but I have been setting goals up for my team mates.”
Despite playing for teams in different countries, many of the Hekari and Koloale players will be just as familiar with each other’s games as those in the two Auckland-based sides. Hekari, who are playing their last O-League game before sighting their sights on next month’s FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2010, could field an almost half-Solomon Island line-up after including five players from the football-mad country in their squad for this clash.
Henry Fa’arodo is the most notable of these names and, after starring for Koloale during the domestic season, is sure to receive some special attention from the ‘Men In Green’ defence.
Both sides suffered shock 2-1 home losses, Hekari falling to Amicale and Koloale being upset by Lautoka, in the opening round and will be desperate to get their first points on the board.
“We have let go of our mistakes from the first game and are looking forward to this second match,” Koloale coach Peter Eke says. “We are hoping to turn the loss into something positive by helping the players improve on their failures and come out stronger against Hekari.”
There will also be plenty of Solomon flair on show during Lautoka’s intriguing match-up with Amicale. Both teams will be full of confidence after starting their campaigns with those unexpected wins and Amicale will again turn to their seven Solomon Islanders for firepower.
Solomon pair Alick Maemae and Jack Wetney played a huge role in that first-up win while local hero Fenedy Masauvakalo is also in good form after opening his goal-scoring account.
“Amicale beat a strong side in Hekari and with the services of top Solomon and Vanuatu players they will be a tough opposition for us,” Lautoka coach Gurjit Singh says. “They play with a lot of short passes so we will need to adapt our style, just like we did against Koloale.”
Singh is aware how important home form is in a competition that involves a lot of tiresome travelling.
“The two losses in our home matches last season affected our progress and we cannot afford to do that again,” he says. “A win will give us a good lead in the group standings and even a draw would be useful.”