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by B. Chen
Samoa News Correspondent
Despite complaints lodged by PanSa soccer club president and women's team coach Sandra Herrera about the questionable outside players permitted to play for the Konika teams during the soccer championship games earlier this month, no delays or postponements were announced and the games proceeded with PanSa emerging as champions for the men's and women's division.
The PanSa girls team led by team manager Se'epa Han and team captain Ora Brown of ANZ Amerika Samoa Bank, defeated the Konika Black Roses (1-0) during an intensive action packed game that was witnessed by crowds of spectators at the Pago Pago Park two Saturdays ago.
PanSa's women's team, consisting of young ladies aged 16 and over, took home the local soccer league championship trophy.
Their next quest is to snatch the Teuila Festival Samoa Cup during a tournament scheduled to kick off during the first week of September in the Independent State of Samoa.
Herrera said that following their victory, members of the PanSa women's team will be taking a well deserved break before hitting the field once again to practice and maintain physical conditioning for the upcoming competition.
As with their female counterparts, the PanSa men's team under the guidance of team captain Avele Iofi, also played the Konika Team.
The PanSa men's team was able to take home the gold after defeating their opponents 1-0.
But the championship celebrations only came after Herrera protested about what she called the "unfairness" of having national players from off island playing on the opposing team.
Apparently, both Konika teams, the men's and women's, are led by American Samoa Football and Soccer Association (ASFSA) president Richard Ott, whom Herrera claims was removed from the post after a meeting before the extraordinary congress followed by the AGM last month.
According to Herrera, her complaints were lodged after she discovered that during the playoffs that led to the championship game, Ott acquired players from off island, including Australia and Samoa.
"There were four national soccer players from Samoa playing for Konika and that is against the rules. One of the players from Apia included Desmond Fa'ai'uaso, who is also a Manu Samoa II player. The player from Australia was Ott's brother-in-law Beaven Kapisi."
Herrera claims that the foreign players should not have been permitted to participate in the games because "They are required to and must first transfer over to play in the local league. I spoke to several people within the local soccer organization who stated that there were no official transfers for those players."
Herrera said that before Saturday's games, she approached ASFSA vice president Clarence Crichton about the situation, to which Crichton responded that the players in question had already been registered to play.
Herrera argues that the players never did, as there was no registration list to prove it.
Several PanSa players claim that Desmond Fa'ai'uaso never played throughout the duration of the regular league, as he arrived in the territory on Friday and was seen playing the very next day on Saturday.
Herrera said that despite her persistence, the members of the PanSa men's team were not at all intimidated by the presence of national players, with all of the players riding on their confidence to put up a challenge.
Now that PanSa has possession of both the men's and women's championships, they are expecting to hear an official word as to when the men's team will be traveling to New Zealand to play against the Kiwi team.
"Before the championship games, we were told that the winner of the tournament will play a team from New Zealand here in American Samoa," said Herrera. "Then all of a sudden, we received word that the anticipated game will not be held locally but instead, will be played in New Zealand. The initial plan was to have the winner of the local men's tournament play against the men's team from New Zealand, with the winner of that game going on to represent our pool in a match against another team for the club competition.
"The game is scheduled to be held in March and as of today, we are still awaiting to receive official word on the status of the games."
Herrera claims that before the championship games, the PanSa soccer club "received a letter stating that the OFC committee had withdrawn American Samoa from the club competition, and our under 17 boys team from the national competition in the OFC tournament. I assume that these are all a result from the removal of Ott. Our team is being held back from competing although this is a chance that we have been waiting for."
Despite the current situation, the PanSa soccer club remains victorious.
The men's championship team, consisting mostly of high school students aged 13 years and older, proved that determination and will, coupled by speed and teamwork, is enough to bring home the gold.
The team, all of whom are local, pulled off a victory with only 5 adult players on their side.
The PanSa men's team is led by manager Joseph Fruean, captain Avele Iofi, trainer Pacifico Chitan Abadia, and co-captains Joe Herrera and Uini Aliva.
The club, sponsored by ASCO Motors and attorneys Bull, Banning, Micklow and Lopez, consists of over 100 members including the men's, women's, and youth teams.
Reach the reporter at blue@samoanews.com.
Osini Faleatasi, Inc. dba Samoa News reserves all rights.
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