Papua New Guinea remain winless as final chances unlikely

Papua New Guinea have suffered another loss to New Caledonia this morning, going down 1-2 in the OFC U-19 Men’s Championship.

PNG were beaten by hosts Samoa in the opening round over the weekend with New Caledonia also experiencing a similar fate at hands of New Zealand.

With zero wins under the belt for both sides, PNG and New Caledonia entered second round with a parallel goal to get their names on the tally.

New Caledonia kicked off with enthusiasm in the first quarter with the forwards setting the platform through speedster Paul Qaeze.

Qaeze opened the proceedings to put New Caledonia ahead with a goal of his effort to put PNG goal keeper Daniel Sakora off guard.

Taking a crucial 1-0 lead at break, PNG’s effort to ensuring a complete performance was needed to keep them in the contest.

Battling for a must-win game under wet conditions in Apia, PNG turned their chances high when David Tita almost equalized the scores through a curled kick.

Tonny Sagana produced the equalizer which gave PNG some prominence to finish on a high note.

However, New Caledonia’s Antonie Simane denied PNG’s chances in finals after scoring match-winner to put his side in contention for finals.

New Caledonia will meet Samoa in the final group match with the aim to register a second win whilst PNG would be hoping to produce an upset against New Zealand.