A very cruel pairing

I guess some teams get bounced harder than others. Having come off a 4-0 loss to the Faroe Islands, PNG then was paired with Monaco, which was another tough pairing. Although we lost 2.5-1.5 to them in Turin (IIRC), they were a lot stronger yesterday, with GM Efimov on the top board. Despite having a couple of good positions on the board, the match went according to seeding, and PNG suffered a second 4-0 loss in a row. For this round PNG plays Ghana, and in a little bit of team strategy, I have dragged in for a second (and final) game.
Elsewhere, Australia is doing well in the Open. 2.5-1.5 over Ireland keeps them moving forward, and a not to evil pairing against Tajikistan in round 9 sets them up for a good finish. New Zealand narrowly went down to the higher seeded UAE yesterday, and face a potentially tricky match against Angola today. In the Womens event the NZ women had a win yesterday (there third in a row), which now puts them a point ahead of Australia, who lost to Portugal.
Palau also picked up a point in yesterdays round, drawing 2-2 with Rwanda.