BY ROMULUS HUTA
THE Telekom S-League championship series will kick off at Lawson Tama this Saturday.
The championship series is the second part of the 2017 Telekom S-League season.
League champion Solomon Warriors and bottom placed Real Kakamora will play out the opening 2pm fixture this Saturday while Marist will take FC Guadalcanal in the 4pm match.
On Sunday 2pm is KOSSA taking on Western United while the 4pm fixture is between Henderson Eels and Malaita KIngz.
The TSL championship series was supposed to kick off earlier on January 27 but had to be postponed in a technical meeting on January 26 upon requests by clubs citing lack of preparation.
Meanwhile, Solomon Islands representatives to the Oceania Champions League namely Warriors and Marist will be using the championship series as competitive build-ups ahead of their quarterfinal matches next month where match-ups are going to be up against Auckland City (New Zealand) and Nalkutan (Vanuatu) respectively.
After the completion of their Oceania group round matches, they have diverted attention onto the domestic competition in their quest to maintain dominance in the top flight Solomon Islands national soccer league competition.
“At the moment we will concentrate on the TSL knockout which is also important and we will use it as our build up for the next stage of the Champions League,” Warriors coach Moses Toata said.
“Having played and defeated teams like AS Dragons, I now have a better angle of what is expected to come.
“Obviously we will need to step up a little in our preparation. We’ll need to work on our fitness because when you play against a team that is technically good,” Toata added.
Marist coach Jerry Allen said while they will be using the championship series as build up, their aim is to finish at the top to make up for their second place finish on the league standing.
“It’s a challenge but our aim is to make it through to the top.
“A good outing in the TSL championship series will certainly be a boost for us ahead of the Oceania champions league quarterfinal.”
KOSSA finished on the third spot of the TSL league competition and they are one of the teams eyeing a top place finish.
KOSSA coach Eddie Marahare said they are ready for the upcoming challenge and stated boys are ready to take on Western United this Sunday, according to an interview with SunSPORTS last week.
TSL Championship Series fixtures
Saturday 10th March 2018
2pm – Solomon Warriors vs Real Kakamora
4pm – Marist vs FC Guadalcanal
Sunday 11th March 2018
2pm – KOSSA vs Western United
4pm – Henderson Eels vs Malaita Kingz
