{"id":433830,"date":"2026-01-24T06:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T06:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/433830\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T06:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T06:03:10","slug":"solomon-kings-fc-and-tahiti-united-settle-for-a-draw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/433830\/","title":{"rendered":"Solomon Kings FC and Tahiti United settle for a draw"},"content":{"rendered":"

Solomon Kings FC and Tahiti United have settled for a share of the points, following a 0-0 draw at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Twice Tahiti United found the back of the net, only to be denied by the offside flag, in a contest that struggled for\u00a0too many\u00a0moments of quality.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It marks the first goalless draw of the OFC Pro League \u2013 coming on the final match day of the opening round of the competition in Auckland.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Having both had their midweek fixtures postponed due to heavy rain across the city, both sides were taking to the field for just the second time. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Solomon Kings FC coach Ben Cahn named the same starting side that beat PNG Hekari FC in their opener \u2013 keeping Japanese midfielder Sota Higashide on the bench after scoring the lone goal in the 1-0 win at Eden Park. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile,\u00a0Samuel Garcia made one injury-enforced change to his eleven, replacing Jackson Gardner with\u00a0Teave\u00a0Teamotuaitau\u00a0in goal, following a heartbreaking late 2-1 defeat to South Melbourne FC six days prior.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Kings best\u00a0moment of the first half came inside the first five\u00a0minutes. William\u00a0Komasi\u2019s\u00a0cross into the box off the right flank found the run of centre-back Gordon Iro, who saw\u00a0his first-time shot saved\u00a0by\u00a0Teamotuaitau.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Otherwise,\u00a0the Solomon Kings found\u00a0moving the ball\u00a0forward\u00a0difficult\u00a0throughout\u00a0and\u00a0continually came under pressure from\u00a0the Tahitian press.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tahiti United captain\u00a0Teaonui\u00a0Tehau\u00a0had his side\u2019s\u00a0best chances,\u00a0first\u00a0watching\u00a0his effort cleared off the line by defender Javin\u00a0Wae\u00a0after lifting the ball over the head of\u00a0Phillip Mango in the Solomon Kings goal.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He then had a goal ruled out near the half-hour mark, nodding the ball past Mango, only to be caught offside from the cross by Mat\u00e9o Degrumelle. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Mathis Lacan of Tahiti United and Javin Wae of Solomon Kings FC during OFC Pro League 2026, Solomon Islands FC v Tahiti United, North Harbour Stadium Auckland, Friday 24 January 2026. Photo: Joshua Devenie \/ www.phototek.nz<\/p>\n

Matatia Paama instead came up clutch down the other end for Tahiti United, sliding in to deny Raphael Le\u2019ai with a challenge in front of his own goal just moments before the half-time break. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The offside flag again proved Tahiti\u2019s nemesis at the start of the second half, Germain Haewegene picking out the bottom-left corner, but having his goal disallowed. \u00a0<\/p>\n

A classy deft scorpion touch from Manuarii Shan unlocked the Kings defence soon after as well, but the striker fired his final shot over the bar from close range.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Having been a constant in Auckland throughout the week, the rain returned to North Harbour Stadium for periods of the contest.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Solomon Kings FC coach Ben Cahn brought on super-sub Sota Higashide at half-time, and just as he did a week before \u2013 the Japanese midfielder injected some energy. Higashide went down in the box following a challenge from Paama, but on second look, the VAR ruled there had been no infringement.<\/p>\n

Tahiti United\u2019s own substitute, Mana\u00a0Teniau,\u00a0had the final chance, striking wide of the right post from close range, and condemning the game to a goalless draw.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both teams now set their sights on the second round of the competition in Papua New Guinea. Solomon Kings FC leave Auckland undefeated with four points from their two games, whilst Tahiti United\u00a0depart\u00a0with just the solitary point.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Solomon Kings FC:\u00a00\u00a0
Tahiti United:\u00a00\u00a0<\/p>\n

HT: 0-0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo credit: OFC Media via Phototek<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Solomon Kings FC and Tahiti United have settled for a share of the points, following a 0-0 draw…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-433830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}