Ahead of kicking off their two-leg Oceania Champions League National Playoffs against RueRue FC, Galaxy FC coach Moise Poida has declared his high expectations when it comes to qualifying through as Vanuatu’s representative for the competition’s finals stage.
Boasting a squad which includes Vanuatu national team representatives such as Andre Batick – and having performed strongly at the last edition of the OCL, finishing second in their group before the tournament was cancelled due to the pandemic – Poida said they have no excuse not to win.
“We have the depth and calibre with the current crop of players to win, there are no excuses,” Poida said.
“Most of the players in the team have under their belt a couple of OFC Champions League games, with experienced players like Bong Kalo.
“We have been going through a rigorous training schedule because it will be two intense matches.”
LIVESTREAM | OCL 2022 NATIONAL PLAYOFF | RUERUE FC v GALAXY FC
LIVESTREAM | OCL 2022 NATIONAL PLAYOFF | GALAXY FC v RUERUE FC
The two sides qualified through to the OCL National Playoffs after making it through the final of last year’s Vanuatu Football Federation Champions League, which Galaxy won.
Poida admitted that outside of that match he has limited knowledge of RueRue, who play in the Penama province.
“I don’t know much about the team. We played them last year and I know they have in their team a couple of loan players from the Port Vila Football Association who we know of.”
Galaxy flew to Santo earlier this week to prepare for the opening leg at Luganville Soccer Stadium on June 18. They’ll then return back to Port Vila to host the second leg on June 25 at Korman Stadium.