Pacific

Nasau's double helps Fiji secure place in Nations Cup final

09:14 am on 28 July 2022

Hosts Fiji will face Papua New Guinea in the Oceania Women's Nations Cup final after beating Solomon Islands 3-1 in Suva on Wednesday night.

Cema Nasau's first-half double and Luisa Tamanitoakula's second-half finish secured the win for the Kulas.

Fiji celebrate a goal against Solomon Islands Photo: OFC

They had to fight for the win however as the Solomons gained the lead through an early penalty kick.

Nausa took out the player-of-the-game honour, the third game in a row she has been the outstanding player on the park.

Looking to the final Fiji head coach Lisa Cole said it's going to take a team effort to beat PNG.

"Really, everybody needs to give what they can, stay with the gameplan, make sure they know their role, do their role well and make sure they keep their agreements.

"If we do those things well we are going to be a tough team to beat but we have also got to defend really well against a good Papua New Guinea squad."

Solomon Islands head coach Batram Suri said after the game that it was a great tournament for a team that was ranked bottom of all the teams prior to the first game.

The top-ranked team in the tournament Papua New Guinea progressed to the shoot-out after beating Samoa 3-0 in the first game at the HFC Bank Stadium yesterday.

Meagen Gunemba's two second-half goals, either side of Samoa having a penalty saved, secured the win after Charlie Yanding had given PNG a first-half lead.

"We came here to make history so going one step better than the last competition we are definitely on the path to do that," said Papua New Guinea head coach Nicola Demaine.

"We will see if we can finish the job off."

For Samoa head coach Paul Ifill the plan now is to regroup for next year's Pacific Games after a successful Nations Cup.

"I think we have an opportunity to really go far in that tournament as well.

"Hopefully we have put Samoa on the map a little bit more than they were before and I think they have to got to be proud of themselves."

The final takes place in Suva on Saturday night.

Solomon Islands will now face Samoa in the third/fourth playoff in the curtainraiser.

The winner of the final goes into a intercontinental play-off with nine other global teams for three spots at next year's Women's World Cup being co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia.

As co-hosts New Zealand gain automatic qualification to the World Cup and do not need to defend their Nations Cup title.