Tupapa Maraerenga put themselves in the driving seat with a 2-1 upset win over favourites Kiwi while hosts Lotoha’apai United are still very much in the running after dispatching Pago Youth 6-0 with a clinical display of attacking football.
The results mean the fight to top the group and thus qualify for the one-match play-off with New Caledonia’s Mont-Dore – to be played three days after the round robin on May 8 – will be decided in Saturday’s final round of action, an afternoon that is sure to see plenty of nail-biting amongst fans in all three countries involved.
Tupapa are now favoured to go through as they are expected to beat Pago Youth by a significant margin but if Lotoha’apai can also win against Kiwi then they would draw level with Tupapa and the group would be decided on goal difference.
Kiwi’s chances were dealt a severe blow by today’s loss but the Samoans can also still progress should they beat Lotoha’apai and their American Samoan neighbours from Pago can do them a favour against Tupapa.
The Kiwi-Tupapa clash was always likely to prove one of the tournament’s key fixtures and, as you would expect with so much riding on the outcome, it was a tense contest that could have gone either way until the final whistle was blown. All the scoring took place in the opening half as Tupapa replied to falling behind to an 19th-minute Mike Saofaiga strike with two goals of their own.
Grover Harmon got the Cook Islanders back into the match – played on a slippery surface after heavy rain – by blasting home from inside the box on 29 minutes and it was 2-1 just two minutes later, the dangerous Campbell Best heading home a pin-point cross from captain Mii Joseph to turn the game on its head.
Fully aware of how important a positive result would be, Kiwi pressed hard for an equaliser in the second half but Tupapa defended resolutely to secure one of the most memorable wins in the Rarotongan club’s history.
“We fought hard and got the result we wanted,” player-coach Tony Jamieson said. “We were hoping for more of a buffer on the goals but it was hard conditions to play good football in and Kiwi put us under a lot of pressure. Going behind wasn’t part of the plan but we always planned on pressing and when you do that you open yourself up a little bit. The guys just kept going and showed some metal to get the win.”
Kiwi coach Phineas Young felt a lack of concentration was to blame for the damaging defeat.
“After we went ahead we got caught napping,” he said. “It was a big disappointment because we could have won. I thought we dominated the game and had some good chances but the scoreboard favoured Tupapa so congratulations to them. I think Tupapa have the advantage now but we have a tough game coming up on Saturday so need to go back to the drawing board.”
The day’s earlier game was far less tense and the result was never in doubt from the moment captain Mark Uhatahi put Lotoha’apai ahead on 23 minutes. The skipper added a second seven minutes later before Timote Maamaloa went on to notch a second-half hat-trick and Soane Faupula also got in on the act.
Pago Youth’s cause wasn’t helped by the sending off of Junior Mikaele with ten minutes to go and they must now firm up the defence to meet a Tupapa side with plenty of motivation to go on the goal rampage.
“We have one more game and I’m going to push the boys hard to see if we can get a win,” coach Ailao Tualaulelei Snr said. “Our strikers had a few chances today but couldn’t finish them. We’ll talk that over tomorrow and will hopefully improve in that area by Saturday.”
Lotoha’apai coach Timote Polovili was pleased to add a few strikes to the ‘goals for’ column and said doing so was at the heart of his game plan.
“I explained to the boys how important it was to score lots of goals and kept reminding them during the match,” he said. “It wasn’t enough to win, the score was very important.”
Lotoha’apai United vs Pago Youth: Download Match Summary Here
Kiwi vs Tupapa Maraerenga: Download Match Summary Here
Competition Summary: Download Here

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