Pacific Games (2019)

our striker looks like he can barely run, is he injured?

Just looks like he can't move at all? Have to feel for both sides playing a final in that slop!

What joke playing on a crap pitch like this  and the standard of play is crap.

nothing much happening eh?

Keeper error in the mud, costs us !

What a result for this young team! Well done  all of you.

Top stuff boys!! Well done.

Our first shot of the game if I’m right bar the goal from the free kick was in the 93 minute!, miracles do happen.

Des B for New Zealander of the year :)

That's quite an achievement for a NZ u-23 B team to beat the best senior team in Oceania.

With a team scraped together at the last minute who only had a few days in camp training

And a coach appointed two weeks before the tournament.

Makes Anthony Hudson's efforts coaching stronger sides look decidedly average against the same calibre of Pacific opponents in the last Pacific Games and in the OFC Nations Cup.

Congratulations to our U23 side! Des can do no wrong, has to be in for the AW's job, just has to be.

Can't say too many people would have seen this coming. I wonder what the odds were for us to win this thing?

This is a ridiculously good result

Shows that proper coaching and organization can take us a long way

As an aside, in the Bronze medal match, Papua New Guinea beat Fiji 1-0. 

Thought Krishna had been a bit quiet on Instagram lately...

I don't want to see Des wasted on our National team. When do we ever play internationals, especially against decent opposition? It would be a waste of his and our time. Time for Ufuk to bring him home to the Nix as an assistant.

Or Herbert with the Horror in Honiara.

Buckingham is building a strong case for the AWs job. This U23 was basically a bunch of local amateur players, hurriedly put together.

However how full strength were the Island Nations senior sides? I honestly don't know.

But see that PNG were without Semmy & Browne. Fiji had 2 players out suspended for breaking team protocol (their problem).

The French speaking Island countries, that have a number of players in Europe (lower French tiers esp), would have had a few unavailable you'd think, not being a FIFA window and so close to Euro comps starting up again?

Still great effort in the Samoan mud by this NZ side.

Gives some comfort that when it matters in September, the U23s (with more players available) can clinch Olympic qualification. 

I see your point, but the brief for NT coach is to also take OlyWhites and work closely with age group coaches, and that could be a _good_ thing in this case.

Thanks for the result information all, missed the game and wouldn't have found out the score for days without this site. 

What a great thing for the squad - whether they make the team in September or get to the Olympics, they will have their gold medals forever and great footballing memories.

- it may be enough for some players to stick at the footballing dream - who knows as TAHW has shown this week.

What a great entry on Des's CV when he goes into the All Whites interview - knows the local scene and can get the best out of youth players he selects. 

#DES for #AllWhites

Actually 1-1 at F/T and Fiji won 4-2 on penalties. Krishna scored the equalizer for Fiji in regular time and converted his penalty in the shootout.

Jeez, the Pacific Games website is absolutely terrible.

That commentator was a complete wanker the entire tournament, everything NZ did well was lucky and everything we did poorly was cos we're bad. Was painful to listen to, only reminded as I relived it.

Nice field, when do we need to go back and harvest those potatoes then?

Can't agree more.

I bet there was a bunch of "fudge, fudge this NZ team" in that period of commentary when the second goal went in.

Just read a big four-page feature in the July World Soccer magazine profiling the Solomons team heading into the Pacific Games.

Fudge me....such is the lack of decent media coverage of football in this part of the world, I only just found out that Dutch legend Wim Rijsbergen was coaching the Solomons.

He took over earlier this year after coming out of coaching retirement. 

Had the team training in Holland pre-tournament.

Was Holland's starting centre-back in the 1974 World Cup Final.

Also played in the 1978 finals.

Definitely one of the biggest names to ever coach in Oceania (including Australia and NZ) 

As a player, won the Eredivisie and UEFA Cup with Feyenoord.

And played with Pele at New York Cosmos.

Has coached in the Eredivisie, Chile etc.and Trinidad and Tobago and Indonesia national sides.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wim_Rijsbergen

Word is he may be coaching the Solomons this month in Olympic qualifying too.

I'm sure I read about the Solomons having a camp in Holland, but I hadn't quite connected the dots.

I agree there's a real lack of information about football in this part of Oceania. The Football in Oceania is a great resource, I just wished the upped their podcast game as the couple of poddies they put out where great!

Maybe I should email them about starting a Patreon page...

The above is from the Oceania Players Overseas thread. 

Wim Rijsbergen wasn't first choice for the Solomons.

What is it with Dutch footballers and a fear of flying.

Solomon Islands will prob get to go to the Olympics with there good coach and good training camp.