Daniel Koprivcic made his place in the New Zealand Futsal squad
Daniel Koprivcic, the striker from Auckland City, has made his way into the New Zealand Futsal squad. The team will be competing in the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Futsal Championship, to be held in Fiji Islands.
The event will play an important role in the selection of the Futsal team from OFC to participate in the 2012 Futsal World Cup, to be held in Thailand.
Daniel Koprivcic won the Golden Ball trophy during the 2011 OFC Champions League as the best player of the tournament. He will join the ASB Premiership players along with YoungHeart Manawatu’s Greg O’Connor and Hawke’s Bay United’s pair, Lucas da Silva and
Marvin Eakins, in the team.
There are seven players in the Futsal White Team who were part of the OFC Futsal Championship 2010. These include Jakub Sinkora and Capital City’s Futsal goalkeeper, David Plowright, both, featuring in the New Zealand squad along with O’Connor and Nathan
Robertson.
The New Zealand team has faced many hurdles on their way to the FIFA Futsal World Cup. The team has won the OFC Championship three times. They were the World Cup finalists from the Solomon Islands in 2008.
The team’s coach, Matt Chandler, has full confidence in the Futsal Whites’ squad and thinks that they have strong chances to make it into the Futsal World Cup.
Chandler said, “All the Oceania teams are targeting Futsal as a great opportunity to qualify for a World Cup so you can imagine the effort and support they will get to achieve their desired outcome. The Solomon Islands have flair, technical ability and passion.
Plus the age of the team is young – so their movement is outstanding. Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Tahiti will also be strong”.
The best team will make it to the Futsal World Cup. The New Zealand squad has brought in some of the best quality players but there are other teams who have physically and mentally strong players as well.
The New Zealand team is seeded third in the tournament and is in Group ‘A’ of the championship.
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