The national men’s futsal team, Kurukuru won their friendly match against the national U17 team 5-3 at the Multipurpose Hall, Saturday.
Kurukuru maintain their lead from the start with a 2-1 lead in the first half and added another three goals later in the second half while Solympics found the back of the net two more times.
The match was initially aimed to help raise funds for the upcoming proposed U16 tour to Australia.
Coaches, Stanley Puirana of Solympics and Jerry Sam of Kurukuru are grateful for this opportunity as it gathers all the national players as a team.
For Solympics they are using this encounter as part of their ongoing preparation towards the Youth Olympic Games in Argentina October this year.
The Solympics team will be heading to Australia this month for a one-week training camp and money raised yesterday will be used to help the team.
“The team played well against the Kurukuru boys,” Puirana said.
“As I’ve mentioned we did not aim for a win though a win would be a bonus to our preparation,” he added.
“The match gives the players a taste of similar strength or more than they will be experiencing in the Youth Olympics.
“It is is very helpful for the team’s preparations as well as for us the coaching team to identify areas we need to work on before our participation in the Youth Olympic Games.”
The match also brings the Kurukuru team together since their participation at the Asian Indoor Games last year.
“The match brings together all home based Kurukuru players together for the first time since our participation at the Asian Games last year,” coach Sam said.
“It’s a good preparation for Kurukuru as well since they are the Oceania champions and its best to maintain their form despite playing for other clubs,” he added.
By CARLOS ARUAFU
