The Vanuatu women’s football team won the MSG Prime Minister’s Cup title in Suva on Saturday, in honour of the victims of the MV Matui tragedy.
Vanuatu defeated Papua New Guinea 6-4 on penalty kicks.
Prior to the final team captain Jesta Toka told the Vanuatu Daily Post that reaching the final came at a difficult time for the country, especially her home island of Ambae.
She said families were mourning loved ones lost in the MV Matui ferry disaster last month, while also dealing with volcanic ashfall.
Thirty-nine people died when the Vanuatu based inter-island vessel sank in the waters between Espiritu Santo (Santo) and Ambae.
“The final will be a very tough match and a challenging one,” she said ahead of the game.
“We trust ourselves that, yes, we will go out and compete, and we will give a tough game to PNG.”
Toka, who has played football for about 10 years, made her second appearance at the MSG PM Cup after being part of the Vanuatu team that won bronze at last year’s tournament.
The final finished 1-1 after regulation time before Vanuatu held their nerve in the decisive shootout to take the trophy, with a 6-4 scoreline.
PNG entered the decider having won every match of the round-robin stage, finishing as top favourites as the defending champions.
The Ericson Komeng-coached side defeated Fiji 4-0, New Caledonia 4-1, Vanuatu 2-0 and Solomon Islands 5-1.
They scored 15 goals while conceding only once.
But the former champions were unable to hold the fired up Vanuatu side in the final.
Fiji claim men’s title
In the men’s competition, Fiji claimed their first title since 2000.
The Roy Krishna-led team lifted the title after Thomas Dunn scored the lone goal of the final in the 10th minute.
Dunn, who spent a season playing in the Auckland competition last year, said the team worked hard to get the win, against a fired up Vanuatu team.
‘Credit to the boys for the hard work feels good to win the MSG especially at home,” he told local media.
“I think it’s been 26 years since Fiji last won here at home so I think it was another boost to win at home’.
Vanuatu will host the 2027 tournament in Port Villa.
Cooks beat Tahiti
In Rarotonga, the country’s men’s team defeated Tahiti 3-2 in the second of the two-game series between the two nations on Saturday.
Cook Islands News reported that playing at home for the first time in 28 years, the hosts gave new coach Rhys Ruka something to celebrate as he started his term in charge.
“I wasn’t expecting to get a result like this when I came over here to take charge of them to be honest,” Ruka told Cook Islands Football Association (CIFA) Media after the historic win at the CIFA Complex.
The Cook Islands had lost the first match of the two-game series 1-3 to Tahiti just four days earlier, but turned it around to produce arguably the nation’s greatest result in their football history.
“We’re very new together,” Ruka said.
“I’m a new coach, there’s some new players, there’s some younger ones coming through, and this first window has been very experimental.
“This result is massive for us. In a very short space of time we’ve created a really good environment.
“Although we lost the first match, we established that we could compete against one of the better teams in the region, and that gave us belief heading into this second game.”
