However on Friday night the side changed the course of history when they posted the first win at a World Cup by an Oceania side after 16-year-old keeper Anthony Talo’s goal secured them a 4-3 victory over Guatemala.
Now as the Kurukuru prepare to touch down to a hero’s welcome in Honiara, OFC Futsal and Beach Soccer Development Officer Paul Toohey tells oceaniafootball.com how the historic victory was achieved and how it will affect the future of futsal in Oceania.
Are you happy with Friday’s result?
Yes, it was a great result for Solomon Islands, and a great result for Oceania – a very proud day.
How much do you think the build-up, which included a 10-day training camp in Spain, helped the team?
I think the build-up was vital in getting that result. The work began after the OFC Championships last year when the team and the management recognised that they had a lot of work to do to be able to compete at the World Cup. OFC then brought Venancio Lopez, the coach of the Spain national side, to the Solomon Islands in late February and he started to work particularly on the defensive side of things. That work was enhanced later in September when we sent OFC Futsal Coaching Mentor Juliano Schmelling to continue that emphasis on defending and counter attacking. Finally the trip through Spain provided them with the opportunity to put some of that into practice and it was difficult because the team had come from a period where they hadn’t had any games for 17 or 18 months so they were learning as they went. They had some tough games in Spain and a very positive game against Thailand – there were elements of that in the game, I think, against Guatemala. It was a similar score line, but a very similar game where the team was very cohesive as a defensive unit and they counter-attacked with precision. This shows that yes, the build-up was important. There were eight games prior to that one and finally they got the result that they deserved.
How big was that win for Oceania futsal?
I think it was huge for futsal in Oceania. It showed that we can compete on the world stage. I think we always thought we could – but there’s nothing like the hard evidence of a victory like that to show that you can do it. The game is still in its infancy in the region and I think one of the real positives is that we can say that even though the Solomon Islands don’t have a lot in terms of resources – there isn’t a full-size futsal court, they don’t even have a regular league and there hasn’t been a lot of games for the team – they can still achieve. So imagine what we could do if we could create more infrastructure in the game. And we look at New Zealand and Tahiti in particular where there is a lot of work going on in the game, and I’m sure Solomons too will go back with a renewed energy, and these countries will start to look and say, ‘Wow, look at what can we achieve’. And I’m sure for futsal in Oceania it’s the dawn of a new era – I hope so anyway.
What is OFC going to do to build on the back of the Solomon Islands success?
Again, it’s important to remember that we need games, we need tournaments. So we have the OFC Championships which are scheduled for next year. Something like this is vital, because it gives teams the opportunity to play against other international teams and see where they’re at. It’s also a great opportunity for coaches to come together because typically we have a workshop or other activities around the championship and for me that’s very important. But we also have to look long term and we look at the grassroots programmes – making sure that kids have access to futsal – not just to develop futsal but to improve our technical ability in football. We’ve already established that we have around 17,000 players in the region and I think we need to make sure that as many kids as possible are playing the game, but they also need to be able to look at that elite level and think ‘I can do that – I can play there’ and have something to aim for. So it’s a big job, and underpinning all that is making sure that we have the facilities to play the game. So in the Solomon Islands for example we don’t have enough facilities, so we need to make sure that over the next two or three years we develop venues where the game can be played regularly with regular tournaments. It’s a big job.
Will you be using the Memorandum of Understanding with the Spainish FA in the near future, or will you look to use that closer to the World Cup?
It was discussed when I was in Spain and our hope is that we can continue to use that Memorandum of Understanding in both the short and long terms and look at specific coaching courses perhaps aimed at the elite end to help up skill our coaches. Definitely one of the great things about the result on Friday is that it is a tangible example of how that relationship can be of benefit. To go work with Venancio and then go to Spain, to train and play games in a professional environment and then to get a positive result is hard evidence that this is an important part of our programme. I really hope that creates momentum to get another project going as soon as possible.

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