Patrick Taroga (born 25 May 2000) is a Solomon Islands

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Henderson Eels.

Club career

Taroga played in the youth of Marist under the guidance of Patrick Miniti. In 2017 he made his debut for the first team. After the Pacific Games in 2019, Taroga moved to the Henderson Eels. In December 2019 he was suspended by coach Eddie Marahare because he missed a game due to participation in a local island football competition.

International

U20's

Taroga first international experience was with the Solomon Islands national under-20 football team. With the team he played at the

2018 OFC U-19 Championship The 2018 OFC U-19 Championship was the 22nd edition of the OFC U-19/U-20 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for the men's under-19/under-20 national teams of ...

. After three victory's in the group stage, they managed to reach the semi-final. However, they lost the semi-final by three goals to one against Tahit. This meant that not the Solomon Islands but Tahiti qualified for the

2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 ...

for the first time. Taroga played in all five games for the Solomon Islands, scoring two goals: one against

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

and one against

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

Senior squad

Taroga was named in the Solomon Islands national squad for the first time for a training tour in

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

by Dutch coach

Wim Rijsbergen Wilhelmus "Wim" Gerardus Rijsbergen (; born 18 January 1952) is a Dutch association football, football manager and former player who played as a Defender (association football), defender. He was last the manager of Solomon Islands national footb ...

. During this tour he played in a few friendlies against Dutch amateur sides. After the training camp Taroga was also named in the squad for the

2019 Pacific Games The 2019 Pacific Games was the sixteenth edition of the Pacific Games. The Games were held in Apia, Samoa, returning there for the first time since 2007. It was the third time overall that the Pacific Games were held in Samoa. The event was init ...

. Taroga made his debut at this tournament in a game against

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...

. He came in the 65 minute of play for

Gagame Feni Gagame Feni is a Solomon Islands footballer who played as a striker for ABM Galaxy in Vanuatu, then for Kossa F.C. in Honiara. Feni was the top scorer during the 2021 Solomon Islands S-League. Club Cup: Fiji Football Association Cup T ...

. Four minutes later, Taroga scored his first goal for the national team.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taroga, Patrick Living people 2000 births Association football midfielders Solomon Islands international footballers Solomon Islands footballers