Schmelling to rejoin Kurukuru
The master minder of the Kurukuru’s fifth victory at the 2016 OFC Futsal Championship in Fiji, Juliano Schmeling will arrive back in Honiara this Tuesday to continue with his duties with Kurukuru.
He confirmed this to Sunday Sports from New Zealand on Saturday.
The Kurukuru Brazilian tactician said he will arrive back on 23rd February 2016.
He expressed his gratitude to again team up with Kurukuru and to prepare them for Colombia’s FIFA Futsal World Cup set for September this year.
However, the head coach said firstly he will chat with the Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) to settle all formalities about his contract as his agreement with SIFF lapsed at the end of the championship in Fiji.
“Definitely I want to prepare Kurukuru for Colombia but first I need to discuss with SIFF because as you know my contract finished when the qualifier tournament has finished in Fiji,’’ the tactician said.
Meanwhile, SIFF President William Laia told the media last Monday after the arrival of Kurukuru from Fiji that the contract of Schmeling lapsed at the end of the Oceania Futsal Championship tournament.
But he said SIFF will sign a new contract with him in the coming weeks and will have the Kurukuru team back in training for the World Cup after their short break.
“SIFF will make sure a new contract is signed with Schmeling before the Kurukuru team resumes training,” he said.
Schmeling was brought in by SIFF to help organise the team for the championship last year.
Despite being bombarded with criticisms about lack of time for full preparations, the tactician was able to merge the team together and proved all critics wrong.
Kurukurus made a clean sweep in this year’s champion, scoring 23 goals and conceding just three out of their five matches.
By CROFTON UTUKANA
