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Under-17 Soccer Tournament heads into Semi-Finals

The Under-17 soccer teams of New Zealand and New Caledonia will be coming to American Samoa for the Semi-Finals this coming Saturday, January 24 for the OFC Under-17 Soccer Championship. The championships, which are being co-hosted by American Samoa and Samoa, will have the top two teams from Samoa, facing the top two teams in American Samoa in the Semi-Finals and the Finals.

 

In their last qualifying games for the Semi-Finals this past Tuesday in Group A in Samoa, New Zealand disposed of the Cook Islands by a score of 6-0 to remain undefeated by winning all five of their games. New Zealand’s Jamie Woodlock put in four of their six goals at the 45, 55, 66 and 71 minute marks of the game.

 

New Caledonia dropped only one game — and that was to New Zealand. The New Caledonians  did win their game on Tuesday when they squeaked by a very determined Papua New Guinea team with a score of 2-1 in their fifth and final game before the Semi-Finals this coming Saturday.

 

Also on Tuesday, host nation Samoa did not fare so well. Samoa finished out the championship with only one win as they were defeated by Fiji on Tuesday 4-1.

 

In Group B, here in American Samoa, the top two teams of Tahiti and Vanuatu squared off against each other yesterday, while American Samoa faced off with the Solomon Islands for their fourth and final games. Due to the rainy weather, the venue for the Wednesday games was changed from Pago Soccer Stadium to the Kanana Fou field. Samoa News will be reporting on those games in tomorrow’s sports edition, and any possible changes in venue, as they are made known.

 

However, with the standings in Group B, it will make no difference who won between Tahiti and Vanuatu yesterday, due to the 3rd ranked team being the Solomon Islands, losing two games to the top teams of Tahiti and Vanuatu.

 

The Football Federation of American Samoa invites the public out to the Semi-Finals games at the Pago Pago Soccer Stadium. The first game will be at 1:00 p.m., while the second game will be at 3:30 p.m. Schedule and time of games are subject to change without notice.

 

Keep reading Samoa News for more updates and photos of the 2015 OFC U-17 Championship tournament.

 

Here is how the pre Semi-Finals standings finished out in Group A.

 

Samoa News will be reporting on the pre Semi-Final standings in Group B in tomorrow’s sports edition.

 

Group A:

 

TEAM            GP            W            T            L            G            Pts

 

New Zealand            5            5            0            0            29:5            15

 

New Caledonia            5            4            0            1            22:8            12

 

Papua New Guinea            5            2            1            2            9:5            7

 

Fiji            5            2            1            2            10:12            7

 

Samoa            5            1            0            4            7:22            3

 

Cook Islands            5            0            0            5            2:27            0