Courtesy: Solomon Star News


Kurukuru muscle up: Fiji, NZ not a threat says coach

By Carlos Aruafu

Saturday, 24 July 2010

KURUKURU will not be taking threats from New Zealand and Fiji lightly as they prepare for the OFC Championship which kicks in two weeks time.

Kurukuru the current defending champions however said that they were not bothered about the threats from the New Zealand and Fiji national futsal team.

New Zealand and Fiji since May have been spending millions of dollars spending a lot of time, preparing for the upcoming OFC Futsal championship.

The two countries recently have warned Kurukuru that this time around it would not be an easy ride for the Solomon boys.

The Fiji Futsal team last month issued a stern warning to Kurukuru that they would be looking for revenge when they meet Kurukuru this year.

Fiji lost to the Solomon Islands 5-3 last year during the pool games and when they met again in the final, Fiji was thrashed 8-1 in front of its home crowd.

But Fiji Futsal Commission Secretary Jainendra Sukhu Sukhu said this year they want the result to be the other way around.

"We now have two months to prepare our team for the OFC Futsal tournament and I believe we should do better this year".

"We know the Solomon Islands will be the favorites but we will come better prepared this time and we want to finish on top," Sukhu told Fiji Online news.

However, Kurukuru Head Coach Dickson Kadau was not at all bothered but relaxed leading up to the championship.

Kadau told star sports yesterday that New Zealand and Fiji are currently recruiting players from their football tournament to help them in the Futsal competition.

However, he said Kurukuru still have the upper hand because their opponents lack what the Kurukuru boys have and that is the very basics of futsal.

“Even if the two countries have recruited players from their soccer tournament, I still have confidence in our boys because outdoor football players lack some of the basics in futsal like fitness, speed and pressure to name a few. After all, we are the defending champions and they will try to win us one way or the other.

“But it is a challenge for us that and we must try to overcome it. On the other hand, I respect New Zealand and Fiji because they are two very strong teams,” Coach Kadau said.

Meanwhile, Kurukuru captain Elliot Ragomo also welcomed the threats by their two competitors.

He said New Zealand and Fiji are two strong teams but it is good news to hear that they have been spending more time and money in preparation for the competition because the competition itself needed to be more competitive.

“It’s good for them and also for the tournament because we can be assured that the competition will be more competitive this time around.

“But I can say that we have been preparing also and at this stage we are prepared to take on any challenges we face and we have confidence that we will retain the title”, Ragomo said.

The Kurukuru squad will depart for Fiji next week for the tournament that kicks off from August 4-18.


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