The Solomon Islands Bilikiki face the monumental task of beating the second best team in South America tommorrow if they hope to continue their dream run at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2006.

After Brazil, the undisputed kings of beach soccer, Uruguay have been the most successful South American side since they first took part in an international tournament back in 1995. Despite their proud record, however, the Charruas could do no better than a quarter-final berth at last year's FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, which is why they are determined to make amends with an improved showing on their return to Rio de Janeiro this November.

Uruguay have enjoyed no less than five podium finishes at the Beach Soccer World Championship, the unofficial tournament that ran from 1995 to 2004 and served as the precursor to the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

In 1996 and 1997, they lost successive finals to Brazil, with Rodolfo Rodriguez picking up the top scorer prize on both occasions and Venancio Ramos finishing joint top scorer with 11 goals in the second of these tournaments. In 1998 and 1999, the Celeste had to make do with third place, a finish they matched in 2002.

The Bilikiki currently sit on top of Group C by virtue of goal difference with world giants Portugal in second place. Uruguay lost their opening fixture 5-4 and need to beat the Bilikiki to ensure their future in the competition.

Uruguay will hope their star players can recover from that match and get the win that will get their campaign back on track.

Star player, Sarandi Sobral, better known as "Pampero", has everything you could wish for in a beach soccer defender: physical presence, magnificent technique and a powerful shot from distance.

The 28-year-old has proved with his exemplary ball control and execution of free kicks that he has seamlessly adapted to the demands of beach soccer. "He is the most complete player we have either in attack or defence," says his coach Venancio Ramos.

James Naka will provide the firepower for the Bilikiki if they are to cause another major upset in Rio.

PNG National squad selection for the South Pacific games is underway. Women from around the country are at the PNGFA academy to go through a Physical Fitness Training test for the selection national squad.

PNGFA are planning a meticulous preparation for the 2007 South Pacific Game in Samoa next year. The two best nominated women players from local associations in the country are in the training with PNG's Brazilian Technical Director, Marcos Gusmao at Academy in Lae.

The team is going through a series of physical tests which started on the 30th October 2006, and is the first phase of the womens' training program for the south Pacific Games.

The camp will last a whole week where the women will be tested for their physical fitness. A technical appraisal represents the second phase of the programme.

The players selected come from as far away as Wabag, Wau,and Bougainville.

The team will follow the same process the senior mens followed.

"At present I am happy to have the camp but we don't know their preferred style of play", said Gusmao.

"I will organise a nearby local team to play a friendly match with the squad we have and see for myself how well they play the game and then I will carry on with the training programme", Gusmao said.

"I want to win the South Pacific Games", Gusmao said.

After the women's squad finish this camp, the senior men's squad will start training immediately. They will go through the same training program.

Gusmao hopes to develop methods and programs aimed towards improving on wekanesses.

"I am confident that PNG will win the South Pacific Games this time", he said.

Story courtesy of PNGFA Media Officer Thomas Kambi

The Solomon Islands Bilikiki Boys have recorded a jaw-dropping 5-2 upset victory in their opening fixture at the Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2006.

Completely unknown prior to the start of the tournament - Solomon Islands Bilikiki have captured the imagination of the football world with a victory that places them just one match away from a quarter final spot.

Cameroon - who sported a raft of high profile names including former World Cup hero Joseph-Antoine Bell - were no match for the Solomon Islands and in-form striker James Naka. In a frenzied first half it was Naka who gave his team the lead when he chipped the ball over the advancing keeper. Gideon Omokirio added Solomon Islands second goal before Naka rattled home a further three goals.

Cameroon struck back late in the match with goals to Etienne Ngiladjoe and Benoit Eyoum.

Solomon Islands assistant coach, Vivian Wickham, was understandably ecstatic with the result and performance, "This feels awesome! Cameroon had so many high profile players we didn't know which way to look at first. But when the game started, we relaxed more and the crowd were right behind us, singing our names. It is incredible because it is only the second time many of us have been outside of our country."

OFC President, Reynald Temarii, met with the Bilikiki prior to kick-off to offer his encouragement and Wickham said it gave the team a huge lift.

"Meeting Reynald Temarii was a highlight for us because we knew we had to play well for the Oceania Football Confederation as well as the people back home. It was also nice to see a face in the crowd from the South Pacific."

Media interest in the Solomon Islands Bilikiki Boys is now gone into over-drive in Brazil. "Prior to the game everybody was asking us, "Where on earth is the Solomon Islands?! They all know where Italy is; they all know where Bahrain is - I don't think they even knew there was a country called the Solomon Islands!"

The Solomon Islands will land back to earth with a bump when they face Uruguay on Saturday 4th November, 2006, at 12:20pm local time. Uruguay gave Beach Soccer giants, Portugal, a tough match losing narrowly 5-4.

"The Uruguay vs. Portugal match was a real slugfest, so we will have to have a look at their game closely and work on a few things before Saturday's match. We need to put our result into context and enjoy the result but not get carried away", Wickham said.

The Solomon Islands Bilikiki Boys emerged from the match has one injury concern ahead of the Uruguay match.

Former Nelson Suburbs central defender, Gideon Omokirio, was injured in the process of scoring the team's second goal but looks likely to be 100% for the next game.

The team will be boosted further by the arrival of Solomon Islands Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Job Dudley Tausinga, SIFF General Secretary Eddie Ngava, and Abraham Eke, patron of the Solomon Islands Bilikiki Boys.

Viv Wickham said the victory would have a big effect on easing political instability and ethnic tensions back home.

"The people back home love football and this win will unify everybody - it's a dream come true for us. We will enjoy this result, but we will shower, rest, sleep, sing our songs and be happy."

The Solomon Islands created history on the opening day of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, the Bilikiki Boys displayed a style of beach soccer that belied their embracing of the sport just a few short months ago. By imposing their unrefined yet mightily effective style, the islanders never allowed Cameroon to wrest control of the encounter.

Naka inspires Solomons to victory

Oceania Football Confederation General Secretary Tai Nicholas has moved to clarify speculation regarding Port Vila Sharks possible withdrawal from the 2006/2007 OFC Champions League competition.

"At present, the Port Vila Sharks will be competing in the 2006/2007 OFC Champions League and we have no reason to believe anything different.

However, if Port Vila Sharks were to withdraw from participating there are a number of options open to OFC; possible options could be to include a second NZFC team or one from Papua New Guinea.

The situation is currently under review and a final decision will be made after the OFC Extraordinary Congress in Tahiti, on November 15th, 2006."

Spectators at this year's FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup will be in for a real treat over the next ten days (2-12 November), with 16 teams heading for some fast and thrilling action.

On Thursday, Argentina will kick-off the second ever FIFA-sanctioned beach soccer tournament against newcomers Nigeria (9:40 local time/13:40 CET).

All 32 matches will be broadcast live and/or as delayed transmissions in over 150 countries across the globe. Reaching Africa, the Americas, Europe, Oceania and Asia, this number represents significant international coverage and underlines the growing importance of beach soccer.

The opening day at the Copacabana will be rounded off with a unique premiere: the "Brazilians of the South Pacific", a.k.a the Solomon Islands, will face Cameroon in their first ever match in a FIFA final competition.

"We are very excited playing our first major world event, for us it is a great honour. We already feel like winners being among the best teams of the world in beach soccer", said Solomon Islands coach Edward Omokirio, whose team was the first from the OFC other than Australia and New Zealand to qualify for a FIFA event.

Now the Bilikiki have the opportunity to showcase their potential on a global stage.

Hosts Brazil are looking to set the record straight after last year's semi-final exit. "Besides having technical level dramatically improved this year, I am really glad to see 16 teams taking part. This shows how much the sport has developed in one single year. We definitely have our minds set in conquering the title, mainly because we play at home and count on the support of the crowd, but France and Portugal are the true favourites," explained Brazil coach Alexandre Soares, whose team face the surprise third-place finishers in this year's European finals, Poland, in their opening fixture.

Defending champions France, who only scraped through the qualifying for this year's event, are back to defend their crown with a tough start on matchday two against European champions Spain. "Of course we want to win but, in first place, we want to play our best. If we give our best on the field we will have a very good chance of winning the title again. As usual, Brazil, Portugal, Spain and Italy, besides ourselves, are favourites, but there is always room for a surprise," said French coach Eric Cantona confidently.

This year, for the first time, all the participating associations have taken part in official qualifying competitions in each of the six confederations, with the games being played in accordance with the new FIFA Beach Soccer Laws of the Game. The official website for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2006, www.FIFA.com, will once again offer the most extensive coverage of all the action on the Copacabana, including video highlights full of fascinating action.

The need for technical development in the Oceania Football Confederation is becoming more important as senior teams from around the region make more appearances on the world stage.

So OFC Technical Director Jim Selby was delighted when former FIFA and English FA Referee Instructor, John Baker, arrived in Auckland last week thanks to a partnership between the FA and Oceania Football Confederation.

Baker - who provided match analysis for referee development at the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany - will spend five weeks in New Zealand helping develop instructor programmes alongside OFC Technical Director Jim Selby.

Each course will not only help develop coaching and refereeing skills, but assist in developing important life competencies that will help meet and identify childrens needs.

"It was important to get a feel for the Oceania Football Confederation. There is no value in sitting behind a desk and writing generic courses. We have to show that football provides a learning opportunity for people and help them take on the broad ranges of needs when caring for children", Baker said.

So far, Baker has been impressed by the willingness of people within the region to learn and take on board many of the key principles of football as an education tool.

Baker says refereeing courses should be geared toward classroom analysis but emphasised the importance of practical activities.

"Referees learn by refereeing, a classroom isn't enough. We aim to take what people know and then build on it", Baker said.

Auckland; FIFA Head of Media for the 2006 Club World Cup, Nicolas Maingot, said today's Media Conference at the Langham Hotel in Auckland was a "good start" for Auckland City as they head towards their clash with the CAF champions and a shot at $US 15 million prizemoney in December.

Auckland City coach, Roger Wilkinson(pictured), facetiously told a packed room that the team may need to rely on divine intervention but added more seriously that his approach would be to try to win the opening match.

New Japanese signing Teruo Iwamoto was introduced as Auckland City's big signing and the 34-year-old said that despite not playing for some time, he felt the handful of NZFC matches would be enough preparation time for the FIFA Club World Cup.

Iwamoto said, "I think I will be prepared. I have heard Auckland City like to pass the ball a lot and this suits my game." Iwamoto had advice for his new Kiwitea Street colleagues and warned them that Japanese weather would not be hospitable come December.

"December is a very cold month for Japan and so our players will have to make sure they are ready for this and to avoid injury due to the cold", Iwamoto said.

Iwamoto's new coach, Roger Wilkinson, described Iwamoto as a "very handy player with some nice touches and a very good left foot cross" and said he would add considerable creativity to the left hand side of Auckland City's midfield. Wilkinson said with team spirit very high, he hoped Iwamoto would enjoy the experience.

Iwamoto - capped 9 times by his country and scorer of 2 international goals - has an extensive J-League career, making 191 appearances and scoring 32 times.

Auckland City skipper, Neil Sykes, said Iwamoto's signing was a welcome addition but added that the FIFA Club World Cup was the culmination of 10-15 years of work for many of the squad and that the hunger and readiness to get to Japan was high.

"It's a true global World Cup event and it's just a thrill for us. It's a real David v Goliath situation. Sometimes David even wins, so we're very exicted", Sykes said.

Oceania Football Confederation General Secretary, Tai Nicholas, said Auckland City's qualification provided evidence of the hardwork Oceania had put in to secure the confederation's direct entry to the FIFA Club World Cup.

"There was some opposition to a direct spot because of the amateur status of the game but we feel that to ensure the future of football grows in the region that we are afforded opportunities to improve."

As a gesture of goodwill, Nicolas Maingot presented Auckland City chairman, Ivan Vuksich, with a FIFA pennant commemorating the club's debut at the 2006 FIFA Club World Cup in Japan in December.

Vuksich was understandably exicted with the media interest ahead of the tournament and said Auckland City felt a strong sense of responsibility in performing strongly on behalf of the club, New Zealand football and all the member associations of the Oceania Football Confederation.

Auckland City kick off their campaign on Sunday 10th December at the Toyota Stadium against either CS Sfaxien of Tunisia or Al Ahly of Egypt. The 1st leg of the CAF Champions League Final saw Al Ahly held to a 1-1 draw at home by CS Sfaxien. The 2nd leg will be played on November 11th, 2006, in Sfaxien, Tunisia.

The winner of Auckland City's FIFA Club World Cup tie will face the might of CONMEBOL's Copa Libertadores winners, Sport Club Internacional, of Brazil.