BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
WITH only a day left, the Solomon Islands Under-19 youth national football team will leave the country on Friday, tomorrow to compete against the 10 Oceania nations at this year’s 2022 Oceania Football Confederation Under-19 Championship in Tahiti from 7-21 September.
The Oceania Football Confederation Under-19 Championship (OFC) will see 11 teams compete, including seven-time champions New Zealand. The teams are Tahiti, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Cook Islands, and American Samoa.
The Championship will also act as a qualifier with the top two teams qualifying to represent Oceania at the FIFA U-20 World Cup Indonesia 2023™.
Head Coach of the Solomon Islands Youth National Football Team, Jerry Allen told RAW SPORTS that the 23 youth squad have been together in their training preparations for the past two and half months; the boys are ready and overly excited to make it to the finals of this year’s Championship.
“We look forward to this Championship in Tahiti with a big responsibility. We have made positive steps in our preparations and I am very optimistic that the boys will be conscious of the match time and aim to avoid errors.
“The boys have been aware of that, we go there to compete and to ensure to fight for everything,” Jerry said.
He said that their aim is to all their pool matches and to reach the semi-final and secured a place in the final.
“I often remind the boys that we only have one mission and it is for us to qualify.
“Our target is to ensure we reach the semi-final and enter the final; that’s the target and the boys are aware of this and hopefully we will make it,” the head coach said.
On Tuesday, the under-19 youth national football team kicked off a friendly match with the senior national men’s team, and they managed to capitalize only two goals after going down 4-2 against the senior side at the Lawson Tama Stadium.
The Solomon Islands under-19 squad includes Junior Pitua, Joel Luiramo, Arthur Reginald, Jayson Kofela, Wilfred Mani, Cyral Enotarau, Alden Suri, Dolson Orisimae, Rocky Junior, Barrie Limoki, Francis Paul, Ron Sale, Zimri Kini, Edward Aulanga, Vincent LIUGA, Solomon SALE, Erick Bekaka, Prince Dan Sele, Gregly Taro, Selwyn Hou, John Sanga, Billy Afi, Alfia Aunga. Head Coach: Jerry Allen.
Solomon Islands is in Group A with New Zealand, American Samoa, and the Cook Islands. Their first opening match is on Wednesday 7th September 2022 against American Samoa.
