BY TONY IROGA
The Samoa senior women’s team have arrived in Honiara for the upcoming round two of the FIFA women’s world cup 2027 Oceania qualifiers.
The team landed in Honiara International Airport yesterday at 2 pm with its group A team New Zealand.
The group A matches are set to kick start on Friday 27 March 2026 in which Samoa women’s team will be meeting rival, New Zealand, at 3 pm at the national stadium in East Honiara.
The top two teams from group A will advance to round three semi-final and final which will be hosted in New Zealand from April 7th to 18th 2026.
In an interview with Island Sun yesterday, the head coach of Samoa women’s team, Mr Paul Ifill said their preparation is good enough for them to play their first game against rival New Zealand on Friday.
He said his team is looking forward to qualify second behind New Zealand.
“We really going to put our effort to game two against American Samoa and game three against Solomon Islands to find way to semi-final in Aukland on April this year 2026,” he said.
The coach said they really hope to win their game against New Zealand this Friday.
“If we can get a close game, the first game against New Zealand then we will focus more better to round three,” he said.
He added that the top two teams from group A and group B will advance to the semi-final in April 2026.
The coach said as one of the top seven ranked teams in Oceania they received a “bye”, which is the preferential status of a player or team that automatically advances to the next round of a tournament without playing an opponent in an early round, directly into round two (2).
He also said they did not play in round one of the OFC qualifiers for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027.
The winner of the final in April will earn a direct spot at the FIFA women’s world cup in 2027 in Brazil.
To their fans back home and in Honiara, he said they will be giving everything they can.
Photo credit: Tony Iroga
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