Kurukuru coach wants early preparations
The head coach of the Solomon Islands National Futsal Team, Dickson Kadau says he wants to start early preparations in order to get the Kurukuru team fully prepared for next year’s Oceania World Cup Qualifiers.
Kadau told Star Sports that since the release of the names of players to form the national training squad, the Kurukuru team management are yet to receive any feedback from the Solomon Islands Football Federation.
The training squad list is still pending approval from SIFF and as soon as the Kurukuru team management gets the nod, they will start trainings according to the confirmed date.
“The sooner, the better for us to start our preparations.
“It is very important that we get the trainings underway real soon so we can be fully prepared for the Qualifiers next year.
“There will be great expectation for us to deliver a really good performance so we must be prepared.
“Teams from other countries are in top form and will maintain that form untill next year for the qualifiers, so we as defending champions must be fully prepared to show them that we are still capable of defending the title.
Kadau also expressed his concern after the Kurukuru team was left out of the recent Oceania Invitational Futsal competition.
The SIFF normalization committee made the decision not to participate this year on grounds there have been no proper facilities, no major futsal league organized in-country this year and the team itself is not well prepared.
They are instead focusing on the World Cup qualifiers next year.
“It worries me when I saw that we have been left out of the recent tournament.
“Despite not being fully prepared for the recent tournament, it was a good chance for us to use it to scout for potential young players to be slotted into the Kurukuru squad for next year.
Kadau said since then, nearly all futsal competitions in Honiara has come to a halt leaving the Kurukuru players no avenue to train and keep them fit.
The Kurukuru team has less than a year to prepare for the qualifiers and Kadau is very cautious about the timing because he needs ample time to prepare a tough squad for next year’s qualification.
The Kurukuru squad last year following their World Cup campaign attended an open challenge where they were defeated by New Zealand and other rivals.
Kadau believes this signals the need to step up preparations as other Oceania teams are preparing very hard to topple Kurukuru.
By CARLOS ARUAFU
