The Lautoka football side departed our shores for their Ocenia League encounter against Hekari Souths United in Papua New Guinea on Saturday without star defender Samuela Vula whose visa application was rejected by the Australian High Commission.
The Shop and Save Blues will fly to Port Moresby via Brisbane and thus Vula who is a soldier in the Fiji Military Forces could not be granted a transit visa because of the strict sanctions placed by the Australian government.
Lautoka president Shalendra Prasad said they will not give up on Vula and will work out other avenues to secure his availability for the important clash.
“Samu could not travel with us as his visa has been rejected but we are working on getting him a direct flight to Papua New Guinea.”
“He is a key player in the team and we badly need him for the match which no doubt will be a tough one as Hekari has three of our own players.”
“Apart from Samu, the rest of the boys are traveling with the team and will be joined by Australian players Nahuel Arrarte and James Nicholas and Salesh Kumar in PNG on Friday.”
“We are traveling with high hopes and are requesting all the soccer loving fans to pray for the team as we are representing Fiji in the regional competition and need all the support and backing of the nation” he added.
Lautoka plays Hekari at 5pm (FT) on Saturday in Port Moresby.
News on
RSS 
