Courtesy: Fiji Times


Fiji Five ready for best

By Indra Singh

Saturday, July 04, 2009

THE Fiji Futsal side is ready to take on the best from the region and there is a lot of confidence in camp before the start of the Oceania Championships at the Vodafone Arena in Suva, on Monday.

Fiji will battle the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia in the week-long event.

Fiji has a good side with a mixture of youth and experienced players and team management have been working hard in building a formidable combination.

Fiji team manager Jaine-ndra Sukhu said despite what many might thought, Fiji would not be a pushover and the side was the strongest team assembled.

"The training has been going well and we have been playing some matches," Sukhu said.

"There has been a lot said but the team is ready to do Fiji proud and we have had a good build up."

Oceania Futsal guru Scott Gilligan, who works as project manager for the 'Win in Oceania' Futsal development program, has spent time assessing and training teams involved in the championship.

The former Australian Futsal player and coach is tipping the Solomon Isla-nds and Vanuatu to be the most likely contenders to take out the title ahead of Fiji and New Caledonia.

"The Solomon Kurukuru have been training long and hard, plus have the bonus of playing in the FIFA Futsal World Cup Brazil 2008," Gilligan said.

"But don't forget that Vanuatu beat them fairly comfortably in last year's OFC Futsal Championship (5-1) so it will be interesting to see if they can do the same again."








Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com