The championship takes place next week at Vodafone Arena in Suva, Fiji, and New Caledonia have been drawn in Group B with defending champions Solomon Islands, francophone rivals Tahiti and underdogs Tuvalu.
The Solomons are heavily favoured to top the group but the other semi-final place is very much up for grabs and New Caledonia are determined to get one over on their great Tahitian rivals to claim it.
“Our main objective is to make the semi-finals, after that anything is possible,” coach Eric Michalak says of the Cagous’ prospects. “We are not the favourites but we have the ability to finish in the group’s top two places.”
Michalak, who has taken the side at this event for the last three years, is wary of the quality of the Solomon Islands, a side that has dominated the championship in recent years and picked up three titles in a row.
“It will be tough as they are the favourites and have set the benchmark for futsal in Oceania for the last three years. They also participated in the last FIFA Futsal World Cup in 2008 in Brazil. They are on a higher level than everyone else but anything can happen in a one-off competition.”
This year’s tournament sees a record eight number of teams taking part and there is plenty at stake as the winner will qualify for the FIFA Futsal World Cup Thailand 2012.
Michalak has been able to keep the majority of his squad together – 10 of the 12 players who took part in the 2010 edition remain – and the only new faces are defender Elia Kaudre and midfielder Julien Drudri.
“We have worked hard and played a lot of games to gain cohesion, efficiency and develop a good style of play. We have a good group who get on well together and, whatever happens, it will be a great experience for us,” Michalak says.
He will hope forward Cedrick Humuni, who smashed in an impressive 10 goals last time, is again on form while captain Loic Caunes, scorer of four goals in 2010, is another key figure. Midfield duo Anderson Paulin and Ivann Pourouoro will direct much of the play while Caunes will be joined at the back by newcomer Kaudre.
The Cagous will take on Solomon Islands’ Kurukuru in their first match on Monday at 5.30pm local time.