One vision for the teams in Group ‘A’ of the 2011 OFC Futsal Championship
The teams participating in the 2011 Oceanic Football Confederation (OFC) Futsal Championship have only one vision, which is to make it to the 2012 FIFA Futsal Championship.
A strong competition is expected amongst the teams in the Group ‘A’ tournament. The event is going to be held from May 15 at the Vodafone Arena in Suva. The teams, who are paced in this group, after the draws, are Fiji, New Zealand, Kiribati and Vanuatu.
It will be the eighth edition of the Futsal Championship and there will be eight teams featuring in the championship this year. The Kiribati team is making its debut appearance in the championship. The other three teams, Fiji, New Zealand and Vanuatu, have
managed to end on the top spots during in the previous tournaments.
Most of the players on the squad have featured in different clubs that participated New Zealand Futsal league. The league has played an important role in promoting the sport in the country. It gave the players to prove their abilities. The team features
some of the finest players from the country. The coach of the New Zealand outfit, Matt Chandler, has brought in the best on the squad for the competition.
Daniel Koprivcic is the star-striker from the New Zealand team. He is the best player in New Zealand league and plays for Auckland City. The squad features players from Hawke’s Bay United, Marvin Eakins and Lucas Silva, Greg O’Connor, former Waikato FC targetman
Nathan Robertson from Manawatu, and Jakub Sinkora, former Auckland midfielder.
The coach of the team is confident on the team and thinks that the team has the maximum chance to win the tournament and make to the mega Futsal championship next year.
Chandler said, “The team that is best organised on and off the court will get there, we have always needed strength and depth to compete at this level and we now have that.”
The host nation’s team has shown a notable performance in all the past Futsal Championships. Although the Fijian squad never won the title, but they have ended-up as the runners-up in the last two tournaments. Vanuatu has participated in a total of six OFC
Futsal championships and they have managed to be on the third position five times.
Both Fiji and Vanuatu will be contesting to improve their previous record and move a step further to reach the ultimate goal, 2012 FIFA Futsal Championship that will feature the best teams from all the FIFA confederations of the world.
The Kiribati will be facing a tough competition as they have never played against any of the teams. The first match of the group will be contested amongst the Kiribati and Vanuatu, followed by the match between Fiji and New Zealand on the first day of competition.
The championship will end on May 20.
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