The New Caledonian outfit went into their game against Lupe Ole Soaga at Ba’s Govind Park knowing that they had to win – and win convincingly – to give themselves a chance, as well as hoping results elsewhere went in their favour.
Though they had no say over the latter, the first task they could control, and Kevin Coma’s side attacked from first whistle to last as they looked to bump their goal difference above those of Hekari United, Auckland City, and Amicale.
It looked as though it might not be their day, as Ishmael Taulai broke down the left, freeing up Lapa Toni to smash home after five minutes and give the Samoan champions the lead.
But Gaitcha responded rapidly, and within four minutes had gained the advantage themselves.
Cedrick Sansot’s long ball was controlled beautifully by Yvanick Pawawi who fired home, and one minute later Jean-Christ Wajoka reacted first to collect a header and put his side in front.
Bertrand Kai led the line admirably for Gaitcha; he never stopped running and twice kept his cool to convert from the spot.
The first was for a hand-ball in the area in the shadows of half time.
Any chance Paul Ualesi’s side had of matching their opening day recovery from 3-1 down at the break was wiped out within ten minutes of the second spell.
Half-time substitute Jean Louis Toto profited from a horrible error at the back by Lupe, before Cedrick Sansot side-footed a volley home and Jim Ouka made the most of some miserable goalkeeping to score a minute later.
Ualesi’s under-fire debuting goalkeeper Mataio Toetu was replaced after 54 minutes by Ted Sikovi, whose heroics in goal against Ba were one of the side’s fondest memories in the tournament.
But again, there was to be no repeat as Sikovi was sent off twenty minutes later for a second yellow card.
Bertrand Kai scored again from 12 yards but not before chaos ensued – with their reserve goalkeeper already substituted, Faafua Ataga Laloata donned a yellow bib and took his place in goal for the final ten minutes.
Ironically, Ataga Laloata’s spell in goal was perhaps the least torrid of the three; though he conceded with two minutes to play when Albert Kaqea – himself a substitute – smashed home after being played in behind.
All in all it was a miserable afternoon for Lupe, who leave their debut tournament with just one point, though plenty of lessons for the future.
Coach Paul Ualesi said the experience must help development of the side in Samoa.
“Our boys are very young, this is a good learning experience in the Champions League,” he said. “The three teams we played were all tough and we expected that.
“We’re going to learn from our mistakes for when we come back we can achieve new things and new beginnings.
Victorious coach Kevin Coma said his side has exceeded his expectations.
“We’ve done what we needed to in this match to keep ourselves in the chase for the semi-finals, but we have to wait for the result of Auckland and Amicale,” he said.
“We’re very proud of what we’ve done here in the three matches. We’ll wait for an hour and a half for the results of the next match.
“In the first half, we had to concede a goal to wake us up but yes, we were efficient and we scored and they did more than what we needed – we asked for [a goal difference of] +6 and they gave us +7 so we’re happy.”
Auckland City’s victory over Amicale later in the day ensured that Gaitcha will face the Sky Blues in Tuesday’s semi-final.
It was just a matter of whether they would be overtaken by the home side Ba in the second match of the day.
The Men In Black needed one point against AS Pirae to top the group and they went about their work early, Tuesday’s hat-trick hero Saula Waqa giving them the lead after 15 minutes.
He ran onto Avinesh Suwamy’s perfectly weighted header and slammed home past Patrice Firiapu to register his fourth in the competition so far.
Ba continued to work hard but couldn’t create any more clear-cut chances throughout the first half. Waqa and strike partner Keegan Linderboom had a few snapshots, but nothing to cause major concern to Sam Garcia’s defence.
Pirae themselves had a number of half-chances to equalise – Marc Vaki, playing in a more advanced role, found himself fighting through the last line of defence on a number of occasions.
But the discipline and professionalism of Shalen Lal’s side shone through and they rarely looked like conceding.
Ten minutes after the re-start Waqa had his brace, the national U-20 striker firing home when clean through on goal, and the points were safe.
Linderboom and Suwamy both struck the woodwork in the final quarter of an hour but there was to be no third goal as tempers began to flare.
A frustrated Garcia was sent to the stands and Ba goalkeeper Misiwani Nairube may have been lucky to remain on the field after clashing with Heiaii Tavanae in stoppage time.
But in the end it was Ba who prevailed, registering their third win of the campaign to finish first in Group A and set up a semi-final against Team Wellington on Tuesday night.
Lal said that his side could now move onto the knockout round with confidence after meeting their goals for the group stage.
“I’m very happy,” he said. “Whatever we planned for in the pool games, we have completed the mission. Credit to the boys for the nine points.
“We expected a tough game against AS Pirae here and the result speaks for itself. The hard work for the boys paid off.”
He says that until now, his side had not allowed themselves to look toward the semi-finals.
“We have been concentrating on the pool games, we took each game as it came,” he said. “We’ll go back over the next two days and see how we can prepare. We’lll look at how Team Wellington plays and then put up the combination for the semi-final.”
Pirae coach Garcia was pleased with the spirit in which his side played the game, after a tough campaign.
“We played a good match, we decided to put in place a style that the players stuck to well, but conceded two goals off two errors,” he said.
“But together I think we played a pleasant match against Ba. In spite of the defeat I’m satisfied, the players gave their maximum and it was a great example to finish on despite the loss.”
While the journey is now over for Lupe and Pirae, Gaitcha and Ba advance from Group A and into the semi-finals.
Gaitcha plays Auckland City at ANZ Stadium in Suva at 3:30pm on Tuesday, with Ba to face Team Wellington the same day at 7:00pm.

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