American Samoa eye bright future

The co-host country starts its campaign against one of the top Oceania sides, Vanuatu, on Tuesday 13 January, at Pago Pago Soccer Stadium.
And American Samoa U-17 coach Uinifareti Aliva is realistic about the chances of his team in a Group comprising three potential winners.
‘’We are not focused so much on the other teams. We have to play the way we can to beat our opponents and try our best,’’ he says.
Aliva sees this tournament as an opportunity to bring experience to the players.
‘’This tournament is a great opportunity to build for the future,’’ he says.
Aliva highlights the difficulty to select players in a country of 55,000 inhabitants as he describes having to choose a 12-year-old player who is the youngest player in the tournament’s history.
‘’It is hard to look for players in our territory. We have had to include some youngsters to have a sufficient number of players in our squad in case of injuries,’’ Aliva says.
But the young coach can count on the home crowd to give all his support.
‘’It is very exciting for us to play at home. The players are very happy and feel very strongly about the opportunity,’’ he says.
This tournament is also a first experience for coach Aliva as he coaches a national team for his first time.
‘’I feel happiness in my life to become a national team coach. It is a hard task but I will do my best to make a good job of it and hopefully to bring the team far in this tournament,’’ he says.
Unfortunately, history shows American Samoa’s game with Vanuatu will be nothing other than difficult with their opponents having won both previous clashes by 11-1 and 7-0.
Aliva knows his team’s first game will be tough but always counts on his players and the supporters to give of their best.
‘’Vanuatu is a tough team who prepared for this competition for a very long time. We will try our best to hold them back. We are hoping to make a good start in front of our crowd,’’ he says.
American Samoa take on Vanuatu in the opening game of Group B at 1pm at Pago Park Soccer Stadium on Match Day 2 of the 2015 OFC U-17 Championship.