It’s an approach Vanuatu took to secure a 1-0 victory over New Caledonia, and it’s an approach they will once again employ in this afternoon’s encounter against Solomon Islands.
Pisano has laid his cards on the table when revealing his side’s plan going into another important showdown.
“I think the first 25 minutes is the crucial part of most matches so you’ve got to really focus and concentrate, try not to concede and play yourself into the game,” he explains.
“Once we do that we’ll just build up pressure and we’re fairly confident with our game plan.”
Pisano isn’t taking the Solomon Islands side lightly by any means, despite their opening 2-0 defeat at the hands of an organised Papua New Guinea side.
“They’re technically quite a good side so we’ve got to be careful, and since they lost the first game they’ll be rearing to go.
“They’re traditional rivals with Vanuatu and I’d say they’ll be coming out of the blocks pretty quickly so we’ve got to be careful. And that’s where those first 25 minutes will come into play.”
Pisano says the approach worked against New Caledonia as expected.
“Part of our game plan was just to try and catch them on the break. It was a nice quick transition and we managed to punish them which was good,” he explains.
“We knew they were a fairly technical side and we knew that they liked to play attacking football as well. We just set up our formation to stop that in the first 25 minutes and we knew we would come
into the game because no one can keep that up for a full 90 minutes.
“It was a tough game, physically as well. We knew they were going to come out and try and hit us early but our boys are quite tough physically as well.”
Having seen that plan come to fruition once, Pisano expects it to work again.
“We’re not going to change anything for the Solomon Islands. I think they play a fairly similar style to what we play – good technical players like us – so it should be a good game.”
Vanuatu take on Solomon Islands at 2.30pm this afternoon in the Match Day 2 opening encounter. That game will be followed by Papua New Guinea and American Samoa at 5pm before the big match between Fiji and New Caledonia closes out the action.

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