The Oceania qualifiers for the World Cup take place next week in Fiji and the Solomons are one of the eight sides putting the finishing touches on their preparations.
Coach Dickson Kadau has been impressed with the effort put in by his charges thus far and says the sense of determination within the squad is the highest he has ever known it.
“My players have given their best in training and I am confident their hard work will bring them the results they want,” he says.
“Hard work has been the main ingredient in our preparations and all the players have displayed their desire to win with their peformances during training. The least I can say is that I’m very proud of them.”
Inspiritational captain Elliot Ragomo has put aside his personal ambitions for 2011 and has focused all his efforts into making sure the Kurukuru book a return to the World Cup, an event they took part in the last time it was held in 2008.
In a show of his commitment to the Kurukuru cause, Ragomo has put his studies on hold and also turned down an opportunity to play futsal in Australia so he could concentrate on training for the OFC championship.
“My dream is for Kurukuru to be in the next World Cup,” Ragomo says. “We were there in 2008 but we owe it to ourselves to go out and rewrite our story in the World Cup.”
The squad is almost identical to last year’s winning formula, the only change arriving in the form of Samuel Osifelo, who returns to the fold after being involved in the team that qualified for the country’s first ever FIFA Futsal World Cup three years ago.
Kadau and his players made sure they would be well prepared for their attempts to return to the biggest futsal stage in the world by wasting little time after their success in the 2010 OFC championship. Just a month after taking the title, the Kurukuru were back on the court getting ready to defend it.
They are also likely to be one of the fittest sides at Fiji 2011 after enlisting the services of fitness trainer Jerry Sam.
“I believe that fitness is paramount in a competition like this,” Sam says.
“Superior fitness means the players can focus on playing the game rather than surviving it. I must commend the players for meeting the fitness challenge we have set for them head on and making it look easy in the process.”
The squad received a boost last week when key man Jack Wetney returned from Vanuatu, where he has been playing for Amicale, to link up with his Kurukuru team mates again. The inclusion of Wetney has been an issue for team management in recent weeks and they have worked closely with Amicale officials to ensure the forward would return in time to train with the team before it departed for Fiji.
The Solomon Islands have been drawn in Group B with New Caledonia, Tahiti and Tuvalu and team manager Mapuru Tausinga says the players will not take any of those sides lightly as they know what is at stake.
“We know we are the champions but we also know we are the team everyone wants to beat,” he says. “Nobody is being complacent and the players have made lots of sacrifices.”
The Solomon Islands became the first team from outside Australia to carve their names on the trophy in 2008 and have successfully defended it in the two years that followed. They share the record with the Bilikiki, the national beach soccer team, for the most wins in a regional competition for any Solomon Islands national side.
The Kurukuru’s first match of the OFC Futsal Championship is on Monday against New Caledonia from 5.30pm local time at Vodafone Arena.
For more on Solomon Islands football go to www.siff.com.sb