Football

Kulas face surprising defeat

February 13, 2024 11:57 am

[Source: Fiji FA]

The Digicel Fiji Kulas have finished second in their group at the Olympics Qualifier in Samoa.

This follows their 3-1 defeat to Solomon Islands in their final pool match today.

Solomon Islands now heads to the semifinal as the top seed from group A.

Article continues after advertisement

The defeat means Fiji will face New Zealand in the semifinals.

Solomon Islands led 2-0 at halftime as the Kulas struggled to capitalize on their scoring chances.

However, they managed to find the back of net in the 80th minute, courtesy of Narieta Leba.

Kulas coach Angeline Chua says being consistent is one of their major struggles.

“So we spoke to the team about being consistent, so I think this is one of the weakness that we need to deal with and the players need to be consistent like switching on during game time, so we know that we are switched off and it costs us the game.”

Despite six minutes of added time, Solomon Islands secured another goal, extending their lead to 3-1 until the final whistle.

Captain Ileen Pegi scored a hat-trick for the Hapi Isles.

The Kulas will play in semi-final at 4pm on Friday.