BY ROMULUS HUTA
TEAM Wellington Coach Jose Figueira says they are expecting no easy but a tough run in the Oceania Champions league Group D competition that will kick off in Honiara this weekend.
Figueiria uttered this when he spoke to SunSPORTS upon arrival at the Henderson International Airport on Thursday.
The Englishman said all the matches will be difficult.
Team Wellington is one of the top performing teams in the New Zealand ISPS Handa Premiership and their Oceania Champions League campaign opener will be against homeside Marist this Saturday 4pm at Lawson Tama Stadium.
Figueira said: “The first game is against the local team and it’s a big challenge for us.
“We are expecting a tough test so we have to make sure that we are at the top of our game and we are ready to perform.
“It’s always a tough challenge to play three matches in 10 days and it’s going to be difficult.
“The team’s been training very well, getting used to the conditions and we have to make sure we use all the players to keep fresh for all the games.”
Team Wellington’s campaign in Honiara will be buoyed by the remarkable achievements in the previous successive seasons where they came up three times in the grandfinal against Oceania champions Auckland City and unfortunately succumbed defeats in all occasions.
Figueiria said the boys are in full preparation mode and are getting used to playing away from home.
The only challenge now is to try and quickly acclimatise to the local weather condition before the actions get underway from tomorrow.
After taking on Marist come Saturday, the second match will be against Lupe Ole Soaga of Samoa fixed for 1pm Tuesday next week.
Their final pool match is scheduled for Friday next week against AS Magenta of New Caledonia.
