Courtesy: Fiji Times


Coach admits lack in mental fitness

Saturday, August 14, 2010

FIJI coach Hussein Saheb says national team players lack mental toughness.

He made the comment following Fiji's second consecutive loss in the Oceania Futsal Championship yesterday.

The national team was outplayed in the 7-3 loss and had nothing constructive to offer fans.

"The most important thing we need is to establish the sport so that players are regularly are training and playing," he said.

Fiji players failed to combine well and there was no sign of any combination.

Saheb said players get frustrated because of lack of development.

"It's the lack of emotional and psychological development because players don't play on a regular basis.

"To deal with referees' decisions, own players' mistakes and the crowd, players need to play on a weekly basis to develop that mental toughness to focus on the game.

"That was lacking in some of the players."

He said against the Kurukurus, Fiji players stopped communicating and lapse of concentration allowed them to pile the goals.

"Defensively we did well.

"We were also competing physically. We didn't sit back. We applied pressure and we had a lot of chances. One shot hit the post and I feel in the first half, the score should have been closer."

Meanwhile, NZ beat Tuvalu 7-1 last night.


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