Tonga are through to the OFC Under 19 Football Championship ^Featured

The Kingdom drew 1-1 with Samoa in the final group match to pip their Polynesian rivals on goal-difference in the overall standings.

Samuela Malo gave Samoa the lead with a powerful long range free kick after just eight minutes, an advantage they maintained until midway through the second half.

With time ticking away it was substitute Tuia Falepapalangi who became the hero for Tonga.

After being brought on in the 54th minute the Tongan number seven hit the target 12 minutes later with a spectacular long range drive to level the scores on the day and seal the overall Qualifier title.

Following the final whistle an emotional Tonga head coach Soane Mailangi couldn't hide his delight.

"This is the moment we have been waiting for, just like I said before, this is history, the first time for Tonga to go through," he said.

"This Under 19 age group, we have put them through a good pathway, we trusted them and today we are the team that came top of this tournament.

"I'm proud of the team, proud of our technical director for his technical advice for us, this is the moment that we have been waiting for.

For me a game is a game and it doesn't matter if you win by miles or win by an inch, both is winning and today we came out on top."

It was a tough result for Samoa, who also finished unbeaten in their own right and conceded just one goal in three matches, but coach Valerio Raccuglia was not looking for excuses.

"Credit to Tonga, they never stopped and obviously they got a goal after which we couldn't create chances to get the game back on track, but they deserve it they have done better than us," he said.

"We have missed a couple of chances and we should have been further ahead and I keep repeating the same thing, every goal is going to count and as you can see we go out because we scored one goal less than them.

"Obviously we are disappointed we came here to win and just didn't happen, and we only have us to blame for because we had the chances to do and we didn't, that's football."

Tonga will now travel to Tahiti in August to compete in the OFC Under 19 Championship for the first time, where they will compete in Group A, alongside Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Tahiti.

Meanwhile the Cook Islands finished on a winning note, beating American Samoa 2-1 to give the home fans something to cheer about.

-RNZI