FFAS President Faiivae Alex Godinet says it is an incredible honour for American Samoa to host this prestigious regional tournament.
“After we hosted the OFC Champions League Preliminary last year in October, I felt we were ready to start hoting more OFC competitions,” Godinet, a member of the OFC Executive Committee, says.
“So at our first OFC Executive Committee meeting in April this year, I lobbied for American Samoa to host the U-17 tournament scheduled for January next year, and my application was given an affirmative vote by my colleagues.”
OFC U-17 Championship is compulsary for all OFC Member Associations, which means 11 teams, including American Samoa, are expected to decend on Pago Pago come January 2015.
Godinet says while it is important for the federation to conduct a successful and memorable competition, the home side’s performance is also a high priority.
“We are looking forward to hosting the tournament and will be making a lot of our plans, in regards to use of the field, with this upcoming event in mind.”
In support of their bid, a wider American Samoa U-17 team began training on Monday with FFAS Technical Director, and national U-20 coach, Rupeni Luvu taking charge.
“We have issued a call to all eligible players in American Samoa to come and try out for our team and our training sessions are every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 2-3.30pm until further notice,” Luvu says.
Luvu says there are three key players who already have experience of this type of competition, after taking part in the OFC U-20 Championship in Suva, Fiji.
“All three of these players were able to get some playing time in Fiji and armed with that experience, they know the kind of effort they need in order to compete well against countries such as New Zealand, Vanuatu and Fiji just to name a few,” he says.
For more on American Samoa football go to www.ffas.as