Courtesy: OFC.com


Solomon Islands savour second title

OFC Futsal Championship Fiji 2009

Reflecting on a convincing win at the OFC Futsal Championship last night, Solomon Islands captain Elliot Ragomo says he is just as elated to have defended the title as he was winning it for the first time last year.

The Solomon Kurukuru were flying high on Friday night when they defeated hosts Fiji 8-1 in the final at the Vodafone Arena in Suva, taking their championship ledger to an impressive 32 goals scored and seven goals conceded from four matches. Earlier in the evening, the previously winless Vanuatu regained respectability by beating New Caledonia 6-2 in the 3rd/4th place play-off.

The experienced Ragomo, who plays professional Futsal in Spain with the Playas de Castellon club, says the victory meant a lot to his team.

"I am so proud of the boys that we came back and defended our title and we really deserved to win this because we shook off some rust after our first game and we have played better and smarter each game since," said Ragomo.

"Now we can look forward to the (invitational) tournament in Libya later this year and continue to lift our game. It’s another big step forward for us and we are proud to be Futsal ambassadors for the Pacific."

Not surprisingly, Dickson Kadau’s side cleaned up the overall awards at the end of the night.

Micah Lea’alafa sealed his status as the championship’s Golden Boot winner by scoring two goals in the final to take his haul to nine goals, two ahead of nearest rival – and teammate – Jack Wetney who also scored a pair in the final. Wetney still left the arena with his fair share of the accolades, winning the Golden Ball Award for best player.

Meanwhile Vira Jack Ala starred in the night’s other match with a hat-trick that helped Vanuatu to their first win of the championship.

Coach Marco Herrominly was pleased with his team’s determination to end the week on a high.

“Our boys really wanted to finish this tournament third. In the first half I wanted them to move forward and press as much as possible and at half time I told them I wanted them to concentrate on defending more – this strategy was successful."
For full match reports visit www.oceaniafootball.com








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