Junior futsal squad in Australia

A 12-strong squad was named by U-17 Solomon Islands U-17 Futsal coach Stanley Puairana ahead of a week-long tour in Australia.

Puairana decided to trim his squad after a second place finish in the Solomon Islands Ports Authority (SIPA) National Futsal League.

“Junior Kurukuru management have come up with 12 names after intensive training and good experience in a very competitive SIPA league,” team manager Nacanieli Seru said.

“In the 12 months our boys have had the opportunity to improve themselves by playing against some very strong clubs that are comprised of senior Kurukuru players.

“We will have three friendly matches while training in Dural, but this trip is basically to help our boys adapt into an international standard court,” Seru added.

“Also the training camp will help us to identify players who are strong mentally to handle the challenge of being away from home.”

Meanwhile, the coaching staff will use the Australian tour to select the ten players who will represent Solomon Islands and Oceania at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in October. 

Puiarana said competition for those final places in the team is tough. 

“It is very hard to decide on the final ten players for the Youth Olympics but we’ll use the Australia training camp to select our final squad,” he said. 

“All the players have performed in the National Futsal League and they deserved a place in the final squad. 

“But it will come down to who deserved it more based on the effort they put in training and their attitude off the court will also play a major part.”

The Youth Olympic bound young side will spend a week in a training camp at Dural, Australia.