THE much-anticipated OFC Beach Soccer Nations’ Cup 2024 is set to kick off in Honiara this afternoon (Tuesday) at the SIFF Beach Court, East Honiara.
OFC said the tournament is a week-long tournament that will conclude on Saturday 26October and it will see four nations – Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tahiti and Papua New Guinea – compete in a single group format.
This means all sides will have a turn playing each other once and the top two teams will proceed to the final, while the teams finishing in the third and fourth positions will be contesting the playoff for the third place.
Following the start of the OFC Beach Soccer Nations’ Cup 2024, a media press conference was held yesterday at the SIFF academy conference room, which gave the opportunity for the four Nations’ team coaches and team captains to speak of their hopes and confidence ahead of this tournament.
The OFC beach soccer nations cup defending champions Tahiti’s Head Coach Teva Zaveroni said with the title in hand, they are hoping to do their best during the tournament and will treat all their matches as final.
He said preparing for the tournament is not a problem for his team because they are fully prepared and ready to take the beach this afternoon.
Coach Zaveroni said he is confident enough with his team for this tournament as they have a combination of both old and new players.
But he added that old players dominate the team and they have been selected for their previous experience in beach soccer world cups.
“Among the squad are three survivors from the 2017 tournament and seven players who recently represented Oceania in the previous beach soccer World Cup in Dubai. With that, we have to show the public what we can do,” Coach Zaveroni said.
Solomon Islands former beach soccer veteran James Naka, who is Head Coach for Bilikiki, said despite having no active leagues in the country for the selection of his squad, he managed to have in place a squad which he guided over the past months for this tournament.
Naka said with their preparations so far, he is confident about the capability of the team and he hopes for good results.
Commenting on the home side’s match with the defending champions Tahiti at 3pm today, Naka said the match will be a real challenge for them but he is confident about the ability of his team.
Papua New Guinea Head Coach Babob Labong said this year’s OFC Beach Soccer Nations’ Cup will be a great learning experience for them as they will step in the pitch for the first time in a beach soccer international match.
“The sport is new in Papua New Guinea, so we will learn a lot from this tournament. Despite of that, we are here to compete,” Labong said.
Fiji Head Coach Jerry Sam said his team are here to experience the environment, learn as much as possible and more importantly compete.
Sam said he is full of confidence in his team.
He said the tournament is also important for his young players’ development.
Meanwhile, two matches will be played this afternoon. The first match will see PNG and Fiji take on each other at 1pm before the hosts Solomon Islands take on the defending champions Tahiti at 3pm.
Tickets will be available at the gate during the matches. An adult ticket costs $20, while children’s ticket costs $5 each.
By FLOYD TERRY JNR
Solomon Star, Honiara
