In a match dubbed as David vs Goliath, Samoa will confront New Zealand, the defending champion of the Oceania Football Confederation under 17 this afternoon at the J.S. Blatter Football Complex, Tuana’imato.
Samoa’s Coach, Desmond Faai’uaso, says it will be a battle for Samoa to lose and one his players must step up to the plate for.
“Today is the best game for my players, I told my players to play very well and play hard for the country,” he said.
Fa’aiuso added that they have worked hard on their defence because, “I know the New Zealand squad is very good, they are very tall and big and us [Samoan squad] small kids.”
Striker for Samoa, David Wensley said that New Zealand is going to be the strongest team that they will be facing.
“They will be very skilful and strong so well have to work on holding back and trying to draw them, (we’ll) try to capitalize on few defence areas.”
<script async src="http://www.samoaobserver.ws///pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
<!-- ads-articles(24.03.14) -->
<ins class="adsbygoogle"
style="display:inline-block;width:336px;height:280px"
data-ad-client="ca-pub-9419815128221199"
data-ad-slot="2395638412"></ins>
<script>
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>
Asked what he feels facing the so-called “giants”, he replied “just trying to stay calm about it, not too get nervous before the game.”
“It’s not yet over: it will be a tough game but there’s always hope.”
Rising from their loss from the opening match against New Caledonia with the score of 0-3, Fa’aiuaso said that “everyone knows that New Caledonia is one of the top teams and my boys poured all their effort during the game.
“We lost and that’s disappointing but we know what we have to do against New Zealand.”
Reacting on their first loss, David credits the squad for playing well.
“There were just few mistakes,” he said.
“We didn’t pass the ball well around us but we kind of held the defence, we didn’t push too much, we messed a few chances, we could have levelled the game but overall it was a decent performance for the boys.”
The New Zealand squad is coached by Jose Manuel Figuiera.
The O.F.C. U-17 Championship kicked off in Samoa on Tuesday with New Caledonia winning over Samoa, Papua New Guinea winning over Cook Islands and New Zealand beating Fiji.
The second day of the games was held at Pago Park Soccer Stadium, Pago Pago American Samoa with American Samoa vs Vanuatu and Solomon Islands vs Tonga.
Samoa and American Samoa are cohosting the tournament. The 11 participating nations were divided into two groups.
Samoa is hosting the games for the Pool A: Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Samoa while American Samoa is hosting the matches for the Pool B: Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Tonga, Vanuatu and American Samoa.
The two winning teams from both groups will compete in the semi finals and finals in Pago, American Samoa.
The winner will directly qualify for the FIFA under 17 World Cup in Chile later this year.
<ins class="adsbygoogle"
style="display:inline-block;width:336px;height:280px"
data-ad-client="ca-pub-2469982834957525"
data-ad-slot="1033882026"></ins>
<script>
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>{/googleAds}