The best football teams in the Pacific are chasing a place at the Club World Cup with the quarter finals of the OFC Champions League kicking off today.
The knock out stages start with New Zealand's Auckland City hosting Papua New Guinea's Toti City.
Captain Raymond Gunemba was the hat-trick hero for Toti City FC. Photo: OFC via Phototek
Toti coach Peter Gunembe said after four years in the league and two matches against Auckland, his team was well prepared.
"Four years in the Champions League, we learned a lot of things," Gunembe said.
"But one good thing about us is that we have the players that've been playing in the past four years still in the team," he said.
"They've come together as a unit so that gives us a little bit of confidence to play against Auckland City. We are familiar with the Auckland City plays, we know their players."
Today's other quarter final has New Caledonia's Hienghène Sport at home to Fiji's Ba.
Ba goalkeeper Misiwani Nairube saves a penalty in stoppage time. Photo: OFC via Phototek
Ba secretary Iliyaz Khan said pool play had shown his team where they need to improve.
"After returning from the group stage we started to prepare for our quarter final," Khan said.
"Our panel of coaches have identified the areas we need to work on," he said.
"We've seen them play. We know Hienghène is a good team, a skillful team."
Tomorrow, defending Oceania champions Team Wellington host the Henderson Eels from Solomon Islands.
The Henderson Eels celebrate a goal. Photo: OFC Media
Eels coach Eddie Marahare said his players were looking forward to the challenge.
"Pretty exciting to reach the quarter finals and to go up against the defending champions," Marahare said.
"It's a challenge but football is football. Anything can happen in football and we have been working very hard for the past weeks so we're prepared to take on the champions on Sunday."
On Monday (NZ time), Tahiti's Central Sport host New Caledonia's Magenta in the last quarter-final.
