Benjamin Totori Returns to a Hero’s Welcome in the Solomon Islands

By: Bob Kellett | April 25th, 2008

It is a big weekend in Portland with the year’s first edition of the NW Derby between the Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders. It is also a huge weekend in the Solomon Islands which is hosting arguably the biggest sporting event in the nation’s history. Local club Kossa FC is playing Waitkere United for the right to advance to the FIFA Club World Championship in Japan in December. Waitkere United are led by future Portland Timbers legend Benjamin Totori. As the Portland Timbers Offside’s Solomon Islands correspondent (next year I want this gig) Lynnold reports, Totori received a hero’s welcome when his team’s plane touched down in his homeland.

Solomon Islands and Waitakere United striker Benjamin Totori made a teary return to the town that launched him onto the international scene amid emotional scenes at Honiara International Airport this afternoon. The 22-year-old striker and his Waitakere United team-mates were welcomed by Totori’s parents and a crowd of just over 400 local supporters as the build-up to the 2008 Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) O-League gains momentum in the this football-mad country.

Hmmm…I wonder if we could get 400 people to show up at PDX to welcome Benji to Portland. There’s an idea. (Didn’t we have a dozen or so at the airport when Paul Conway showed up? Weren’t there hundreds willing to take Conway back to the airport for the first flight out of town once we saw how he played?)

Kickoff between Waitakere United and Kossa FC is set for 2pm Saturday local time, which I think works out to 8pm Friday Portland time. It looks like Ocean Football will have text updates during the match and will host a delayed Fijian television broadcast of the game sometime next week. The second leg will be played in New Zealand on May 3. Totori will arrive in Portland around May 10.

Some pre-match Totori coverage:

O-LEAGUE PHOTO GALLERY: TOTORI’S EMOTIONAL RETURN

TOTORI AND MENAPI GREETED WITH HEROES WELCOME