By Taromane Martin
THE country’s national U-19 soccer team have arrived and are settling down in Tahiti after leaving the country on Tuesday.
The national U-19 squad is in Tahiti to compete at the 2018 Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) U-19 championship which kicks off this Saturday.
Head Coach Batram Suri said the team is in good spirit and is settling in as they look to create history for the country.
“The team is very confident with all the players by considering their individual techniques and tactics where we have been working on them for the past months,” Coach Suri said prior to their departure on Tuesday.
“We have a team of very young and energetic players who are prepared to give all they have to finish top of the group and into the semi-finals.
“Our initial target will be the semi-finals. From there on then we can work out going beyond that into the finals to achieve our world cup qualification goal,” he adds.
Solomon Islands is pooled in Group B with Fiji, New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Solomon Islands will play New Caledonia in their first match this Sunday followed by Fiji Thursday next week and then Vanuatu in their final group match on August 12 at the Stade Fautaua.
The top two teams from Oceania will qualify for a sport in the Youth World Cup which will be staged in Poland come 2019.
