The Solomon Islands Under-17 Soccer team was the first team to arrive in the territory for the 2015 OFC Under-17 Soccer Championships that are being hosted by American Samoa, with Samoa as the co-host. The tournament will play out this month from January 13-27, and the winner will qualify as Oceania’s representative for the 2015 FIFA Under-17 World Cup set to take place in Chile from October 17 through November 8 this year.

There are 11 teams competing, with six playing in Group 1 in Samoa (New Zealand, Papau New Guinea, Fiji, Cook Islands & Samoa) and five competing in Group 2 (Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Tonga & American Samoa).

All games of Group 2 will be played at the Pago Park Stadium in Pago Pago. Semi-finals and the final game will also be played in the Territory, with the top two teams from Group 1 and Group 2 to battle it out in the final, which will also be held at the Pago Park stadium.

In Samoa the teams looking to claim the title will be playing at Samoa’s National Soccer Stadium — J. S. Blatter Complex.

Samoa News spoke with head coach of the Solomon Islands team, Jacob Moli who said, “Our preparations have been great. We started early in December. The boys are in real good shape and they are prepared for the tournament,” he said. “This is a new environment for the boys and I hope they enjoy being here. I want to ask the Solomon community here to come out and give the boys some support and I hope we enjoy our stay here in American Samoa.”

Play will begin on Tuesday January 13, with American Samoa versus Vanuatu starting at 1:00 p.m., while the Solomon Islands will be facing off with Tonga following the first game.

The second day of play will be Thursday January 15 as Vanuatu plays against Tonga, with American Samoa going against Tahiti. To finish out the first week of play, day three on Saturday January 17 will see Tahiti versus Tonga and Solomon Islands versus Vanuatu.

All of the first games have a scheduled starting time of 1:00 p.m. with the second game having a scheduled starting time of 3:30 p.m.

The next scheduled team to arrive will be Vanuatu this morning at 8:00 am. and 8:20 a.m. Team Tahiti will be arriving this coming Sunday morning at 10:05 a.m. and 10:20 a.m., while Team Tonga is scheduled to arrive on Monday morning at 8:05 a.m. and 8:20 a.m.

Schedules and times are subject to change without notice.

The FFAS invites the community out to these championships and asks that each community for visiting teams also come out and support their favorite team.

Samoa News will continue with the latest updates on the 2015 OFC Under-17 Soccer Championships from January 13-27.