27 May 2014

Sport: Vanuatu U20 footballers seek scoring touch

11:05 am on 27 May 2014

The Oceania Under 20 football Championship reaches the halfway point on Tuesday with Vanuatu hoping to rediscover their scoring touch against American Samoa.

Vanuatu have yet to concede in their first two matches but have only found the back of the net once.

They're in a tie for second place on four points, alongside Papua New Guinea, two behind hosts Fiji, who they play on Thursday.

American Samoa are buoyed are earning their first ever point at Under 20 level with a draw against PNG.

Assistant coach Anthony Pisano watched that game and says they'll be tough to break down.

"They're actually a fairly well-organised team and they really spoiled the party for PNG so we can't be complacent today. We've got the boys motivated and up for today's game so we just need to improve on our transition and our decision making in the last third. We've made some bad decisions in attack so that's what we've been working on and hopefully today we will manage a few more goals".

Elsewhere on Tuesday Fiji face PNG and New Caledonia take on Solomon Islands.

The winner of the six-team tournament will join hosts New Zealand as Oceania representatives at next year's Under 20 World Cup.