PNG women’s football team ready for OFC Nations Cup semifinal against Fiji

Papua New Guinea is geared up for a challenging encounter with Fiji when the two teams meet today at 1pm in the semifinals of the OFC Women’s Nations Cup at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva, Fiji.

PNG and Fiji have a shared rivalry history over the years and today’s clash is set to be an exciting one – a rematch of the 2022 final where PNG edged Fiji 2-1 to claim their first Nations Cup title.

PNG are going in as defending champions with a strong group stage performance topping Group A following a 2-1 win over Samoa, 1-1 draw with Tahiti and dominated Cook Islands 8-0 to secure a semifinal spot.

Head coach Eric Komeng said there is no pressure on the players as they are focused on the task ahead – that is to defend their title.

“Our preparations for the game went well, there’s no injury concerns in the squad, so we are looking forward to the game. Our last game against Cook Islands was a step up so I’m confident the team will do well tomorrow,” said Komeng.

Fiji are hosts and runners-up in the 2022 edition and they are going into this match very confident especially after beating PNG 3-1 in the two-match friendly in Port Moresby with striker Cema Nasau starring.

Coach Komeng when asked of their approach against Fiji coming off a loss and draw with Fiji during the friendlies said: “We’ve learnt a lot from the friendlies, that loss [to Fiji] has made us to work hard and we know this is our opportunity and avenge that loss to get the win we need.”

He said he will be relying on skipper Ramona Padio and star striker Marie Kaipu to lead PNG tomorrow against a star-studded Fijian outfit including the likes of US based Trina Davis and New Zealand based Cema Nasau.

The winner of PNG v Fiji will take on the winner of the other semifinal match between Samoa and Solomon Islands in the final on Saturday.