It was a sweet victory for Tonga's U-20 girl's soccer team when they beat Samoa 3-2 in Apia, Samoa, on Thursday, April 6, to go into Saturday's final against New Zealand in this year's U-20 Women's World Cup qualifier.

The story of Tonga's victory over Samoa will be told and retold by the girls. Tonga went into the semi-final as the under-dog, after being beaten by Samoa in a pre-tournament friendly game 2-1.

But on Thursday it was a different story. Tonga put the first point on the board in the 5th minute when Karen 'Uta'atu scored from the penalty spot after Penateti Feke was chopped down by a Samoan defender, Luisa Tagamoa. The Samoan equalised the score six minutes later, and at halftime it was 1-1.

In the 56th minute the Samoan starlet Suitupe Tafafa put Samoa ahead 2-1.

In the 61st minute , Luisa Tagamoa repeated the offence that she did to Penateti Feke at the start of the match and Karen 'Uta'atu slotted another penalty goal for Tonga, and equalised the score 2-2. The winning goal for Tonga came soon after from Penateti Feke herself who put Tonga in the lead 3-2.

Penateti and Karen were the stars of the Tongan team, which went on to meet New Zealand in the final on April 8.

U-20 Final

Tonga went into the final as the underdog, after being beaten twice by New Zealand 16-0 in a pre-tournament friendly game and then again 7-0 in their Group A game earlier in the tournament.

The girls gave it their all, and though they were beaten by the Kiwis 6-0 but to get to the final was a major achievement.

New Zealand goes on to represent Oceania at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Russia during August and September this year.