Soccer squad jet off today for Macau international friendly
ATTACKING midfielders Micah Lea’alafa and Jerry Donga has been ruled out of the one-off international friendly tour to Macau this week.
The international friendly will be played away tomorrow at the Estádio Campo Desportivo in Macau.
The national soccer squad will fly out of the country today.
Caretaker national soccer head coach Moses Toata confirms that New Zealand-based Lea’alafa will not be available due to club commitment while Donga’s name was scrapped off the list due to disciplinary reasons.
Toata is looking forward to put up a good contest against Macau and will be travelling with a total of 15 players.
“Benjamin Totori will join us on the Air Niugini flight from Nadi to Port Moresby via Honiara in the morning.
“Micah is unable to join us although we have already paid for his ticket. Its last minute and we have no replacement for him.
“Jerry is out from the travelling list as well due to disciplinary reasons,” Toata told SunSPORTS last night.
The Macau senior men’s team known as the ‘Greens’ is a member of the Asia Football Confederation (AFC) and they represent the Chinese special administrative region of Macau in international association football.
Globally, they are one of the lowest ranked teams on the FIFA Coca Cola ranking where they are currently sitting at the 185th position having moved one spot up the ladder since the June release.
Their highest position on the ranking ever recorded was in September 1997 when they were placed on the 156th spot with their lowest position being a 204th recorded July 2014.
The Macau national team has never qualified for the AFC Asian Cup or the East Asian Championship. The team qualified for the 2006 AFC Challenge Cup, where they got one draw and two losses.
Macau’s last two international matches were held in March this year where they succumbed to 1-0 losses in each of the matches against Mauritas (ranked 155th) and Myanmar (ranked 138th), respectively.
After playing Solomon Islands tomorrow, next up on their list is Guam.
Solomon Islands travelling squad for Macau friendly below.
Goal Keepers:
Philip Mango and Desmond Tutu
Defenders:
Richard Hiromana, Haddis Aengari, Emmanuel Poila, Robert Laua, Allan Peter and Bonny Pride
Midfielders:
Atkin Kaua, Timothy Bakale and Judd Molea
Forwards:
Joses Nawo, Alwin Hou, Atana Faarodo Jnr and Benjamin Totori
