Honiara – The Solomon Island Olympic side lost 3-2 to a Honiara Select side in its third warm up match on Saturday at the SIFF Academy field.
The Solomon U’23’s had previously lost and drawn with O’league outfit Kossa FC and Saturday’s match provided a chance for players to impress the national coaches.
The Olympic squad will be impatiently awaiting the return of star striker Benjamin Totori after it was apparent that the team lacked fire power upfront. They created good scoring
chances but their forwards were simply unable to convert them into goals.
Western Turtles striker Nathan Kera opened the scoring for the Olympic side when he intercepted senior national defender David Taro’s back pass and managed to hit the ball past
former national goalkeeper Severino Aefi.
The Honiara Select side appeared to have settled well into the match and kept the pressure on the Olympic squad after they scored with Godwin Bebeu – who was earlier dropped from
the national U23 squad – causing problems upfront.
He started the move which resulted in their equalizer when he collected a ball just outside the 18 yard box and drove a fierce shot at Shedrack Ramoni who fumbled the ball and
Aloysio blasted it into the net.
Bebeu again showed his class when scored twice in the second half and set alarm bells ringing for his recall into the squad.
Bebeu’s omission from he Olympic squad provided a hot talking point following the match after a supurb performance in which he caused the Olympic defenders all kinds of
problems.
The Olympic squad arrived into camp yesterday (Sunday) for their final part of preparation before they leave for Brisbane for a couple of friendly matches with local
teams.
In related news, Benjamin Totori and Michael Fifi’i scored for their clubs at the weekend. Totori scored in their 5-0 win over Otago while Fifi’i in their 2-1 loss to league
leaders Auckland City.
HONIARA – Bilikiki’s‘wonder boy’ James Naka marked his return to the DJ Graphics sponsored competition by scooping the golden boot award at DC Park over the weekend.
He scored nine goals in two matches he played to help his Blue’s team secure the trophy and cash prize for the second week in a row.
It was an inspired performance from him after he missed the first competition the previous weekend.
The competition will run for over a month and then a squad will be selected to represent the country in the World Cup finals in France later in the year.