The Bonitos will meet their Vanuatu counterparts on July 27 and July 30 in Port Vila as both teams look to finetune their skills ahead of the upcoming Pacific Games in New Caledonia.
Coach Jacob Moli has selected 17 players to take on the short tour as Solomon Islands prepares for its first outings on foreign soil since 2007.
The pair of friendlies arrive shortly after two similar battles were fought out between the same sides in the Solomon Islands, which resulted in a 2-1 win for the home team and a scoreless draw.
Moli has a large training squad from which to pluck and says his line-up for the Vanuatu trip is a balance between the top performers and those needing a final run before their fate is decided.
“The squad we have picked is a combination of players we are confident about and a number that we want to test on foreign soil to see how they will perform in front of a big opposing crowd,” Moli says.
He is keen to emphasise that the 17 chosen are not the final squad for the Pacific Games and that all the players need to show their worth in the Vanuatu matches.
“All the players have been selected from the pool we have training at the moment and none of them are guaranteed a ticket to New Caledonia,” he says. “If they want to represent their country, they have this opportunity to prove themselves.”
Despite not losing in either of their recent matches against Vanuatu, the Bonitos are likely to be in for a tough pair of games in Port Vila. The Vanuatu squad received a welcome confidence boost with a 2-1 win over Fiji earlier this month and coach Saby Natonga may include several stars who were left out of the recent trips to Solomon Islands and Fiji, such as O-League Golden Boot winner Fenedy Masauvakalo.
“It is a friendly but the aim is to build up positive momentum by winning,” Moli says. “Vanuatu will want to balance the records so we are definitely expecting stiff opposition over there.”
An announcement on the final Solomon Islands squad for the Pacific Games was expected to be made last week but this did not occur amid news that further downsizing of the number of representatives for each of the country’s Games teams may take place across all sports. If this is confirmed fewer than 20 players will travel to New Caledonia and it is a development that is of concern to Moli.
He would prefer to have at least 20 players available to provide the coaching staff with plenty of options and cover for injuries.
“I think the maximum possible number of players should be allowed to travel to guard against injury problems and for technical purposes,” he says.
Solomon Islands squad for Vanuatu friendlies
Goalkeepers
Shadrack RAMONI
Samson KOTI
Defenders
George SURI
Samson TAKAYAMA
Hadisi AENGARI
Nelson SALE
Aleck WICKHAM
Tome FAISI
Midfielders
Henry FA’ARODO
George LUI
Joachim WAROI
Michael FIFI’I
Jeffery BULE
Seni NGAVA
Forwards
Joses NAWO
Abraham INIGA
Joe LUWI
For more on Solomon Islands football go to www.siff.com.sb