The Solomon Islands Women’s National Football Team has bowed out of contention for the 2025 MSG Prime Ministers Cup title after suffering a heavy 5-0 defeat to hosts Papua New Guinea (PNG) in Thursday’s semi-final at the PNG Football Stadium in Port Moresby.
Both sides started with intensity, with Solomon Islands pressing high and putting early pressure on the PNG backline.
However, the hosts’ patience and composure paid off in the 18th minute when Sarah Waida unleashed a stunning long-range strike from outside the box to open the scoring.
The match took a further blow for Solomon Islands moments later when key midfielder Madeline Arukau was forced off following a heavy collision with a PNG defender.
PNG doubled their lead in the 40th minute through captain Ramona Padio, who calmly finished to give the home side a 2-0 advantage heading into halftime.
Just minutes after the restart, Padio struck again, this time capitalising on a defensive error to slot home from close range and make it 3-0.
The Solomon Islands’ defensive struggles continued when goalkeeper Zainab Donga misjudged a clearance, allowing Nenny Silapas to pounce and guide the ball into an empty net for PNG’s fourth goal.
Tensions rose in the Solomon Islands camp as PNG maintained control. In the 80th minute, striker Karen Kalapai outmuscled a Solomon Islands defender before racing through on goal and blasting past Donga to seal a dominant 5-0 victory.
Speaking after the match, Solomon Islands Head Coach Dan Barrett highlighted the value of the tournament despite the disappointing result.
“Yeah, good privilege, honoured to be involved in the competition and I think culturally it’s fantastic and then also an opportunity to play football games before World Cup qualifiers is so important to these Melanesian nations”, he said.
“And like I said, I’ve learned a lot out of this tournament and have got a lot of information on my team that I wouldn’t have had if this tournament wasn’t on,” he said.
The Solomon Islands will now turn their attention to Sunday’s third-place playoff, where Barrett hopes his side can finish the campaign on a strong note.
By TIMOTHY INIFIRI JNR
Solomon Star, Honiara
