Islands play off for football honours

The finals of the National Youth Football Championship will take place this afternoon at the CIFA complex in Matavera.

The action starts at 1pm with Atiu and Mangaia to playoff for the 3rd and 4th placing in the under 16 girls category.

This match will be followed by Mauke and Mitiaro who play for the same placing in the under 15 boys division.

In the finals for the 2011 National Youth Football Championship, the island of Aitutaki will take on Vaka of Te Au O Tonga in both the under 15 boys and under 16 girls category.

During the semi finals on Thursday, both Aitutaki and Te Au O Tonga under 16 girls easily eliminated their opponents Atiu and Mangaia with the score line of 7-1 and 6-0 respectively. There should be exciting finals today with both teams a lot stronger than all their opponents throughout the one week tournament.

Tepaeru Toka and Linade Unuka, who are members of the national womens football team, have been outstanding in achieving a finals spot for their Aitutaki team.

Te Au O Tonga on the other hand will no doubt use the speed of young Teiti Tupuna to break through the Aitutaki solid defence.

This should be an exciting match with Aitutaki having the upper hand over Te Au O Tonga in terms of speed and ball possession.

In the under 15 boys finals, Aitutaki again will go into this match as favourites.

They disposed of Mitiaro in the semis by 6 goals to 1 while Te Au O Tonga just managed to defeat a strong Mauke team in a penalty shoot-out by 4 goals to 1.

Medal presentations will take place straight after the final match. Good luck to all teams.

Draw and referee appointment for today: 1.00pm Under 16 Girls Atiu vs Mangaia, Ref-Junior Arioka assisted by Travel Nootai and Michael Murare, 2.10pm Under 15 Boys Mauke vs Mitiaro, Ref-Toru Ori assisted by Robert Savage and Tino Napa, 3.20pm Under 16 Girls Aitutaki vs Te Au O Tonga, Ref-Mata Iroa assisted by Melanie Wilson and Anabeth Tetauru, 4.30pm Under 15 Boys Aitutaki vs Te Au O Tonga, Ref-John Pareanga assisted by Maara Kaukura and Paavo Mustonen (Fourth Official-Robert Savage).