Despite the loss, American Samoa coach Rupeni Luvu was happy with the end result as they managed to keep the scoring against them at a minimum.
“I am happy with the result,” he said. “We’re going to go and look at our mistakes from today and go from there in preparation for our next match.”
They play Papua New Guinea on Sunday, May 25 at 5:00 p.m., (Saturday, May 24, 6:00 p.m. American Samoa time) after a one-day of rest in between games.
All goals came in the first half by Saula Waqa in the 15th minute, Jale Dreola in the 24th, Tony Tuinuva in the 30th and Samuela Naibenia in the third minute of stoppage time.
Fiji’s coach, Ravinesh Kumar said he was happy with the win and the three points it entails.
Led by team captain Rueben Luvu, American Samoa dug in in the second half and defended with their hearts in order to hold the score to the game’s final tally of 4-0.
Luvu was the heart of the defense for the entire match, going physical against the much more physical Fijians.
“The coaching staff and I will sit down and see what we have to work on and then pass that on to our players,” said coach Luvu, the team captain’s father.