Solomon Islands coach Felipe Vega-Arango is optimistic the national side is capable of finishing top of Group A at the FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar Oceania Qualifiers as Solomon Islands and Tahiti will play in a one-off play-off match to decide the winner and runner-up on Friday morning 1:00 Solomon time.
The Spaniard said both teams will want to win the match but Solomon Islands have what it takes to get maximum points in a difficult match against an experience Tahiti side.
“I wish I knew more I tried to find matches to watch but the only thing we had is watching highlights of a game of Tahiti in France. It is unfortunate because if Tahiti plays Vanuatu, then we might watch them and did the match analysis with the boys,” Felipe stated.
A few veteran players in the current national team had played against Tahiti in the past and they are expecting a tough match against the francophone rivals. Solomon Islands beat Tahiti 1-0 in both teams’ last World Cup qualifiers meeting in 2016 on home soil with a late goal from Emmanuel Poila.
“I have some veteran players in the team as you all know Joses Nawo, Micah Lea’alafa, Jerry Donga, Philip Mango and they all played against Tahiti in the past so we know what to expect it’s going to be a strong team, they are going to be physical, they going to be a team well-coached, it’s going to be a really difficult game and we are going to compete really hard to beat them,” Felipe added.
The situation in Doha in the past couple of day’s disrupted match day two of Group A but Felipe insisted that his boys are ready for the crucial encounter.
“The players are doing wonderful they have been following the guidelines we have. They’ve been training really hard. All of them are nice boys so the situation in the camp is good. I know they are really willing and excited to play the next game,” he stressed.
“Like I said it was stressful and difficult for us to adjust because the planning that we have was to play everyday days and the boys wanted to play Vanuatu and to get some game time but we had one week of rest and hard training. I told them yesterday that they need to focus on this game like it’s the last game of their life”.
Topping the group means avoiding favourites New Zealand in the semi-finals. Both teams will be aiming to at least meet the Kiwis in the final as the team to beat. However, Felipe said the lads want to focus on Tahiti and try to win it.
“New Zealand is obvious the team to beat. It will not be easy in the semi-finals and we want to win the match and lead the pool after the match we will think about the semi-final but right now Tahiti and Solomon Islands both of us we want to win the match because we want to avoid New Zealand,” the Solomon Islands coach said when asked about his opinion on finishing top of the group.
“I know the boys want to win the match, we should be aggressive and we have fast players we should score goals and try to go forward”.
Solomon Islands have the youngest team at the Oceania World Cup qualifiers and Tahiti will be a real test of their character after the Cook Islands match. According to the coach there are only two teams in competition, Solomon Islands and New Zealand who are trying to rebuild their teams for the future. He explains that it is very important not to put pressure on the young lads but they know the importance of being competitive.
“I don’t want to put too much pressure on the boys because we have to understand that this is a team we are building for the Pacific Games and the next six, seven, eight years. We are the youngest team in the competition we have several 19 years old in the team,” the Spaniard Solomon Islands coach explained.
“From what I see two teams are now rebuilding, one of them is Solomon Islands and New Zealand. So New Zealand and Solomon Islands are following the same pathway of rebuilding the team. It’s obvious that having experience players in international matches is extremely important like Tahiti do.
“But we have young players, young players mean fresh legs so I think anything can happen. I don’t want to put pressure on the boys, they need to play well, relax and putting too much pressure on them is not good for their future careers.
“They understand how important this game is, they understand we must compete but this is a team for the future. We expect to win tomorrow but we also need to support the players”.
The win against Cook Islands in the opening match will not be taken into consideration after the Bureau for the FIFA World Cup™ Qualifiers has decided that;
All matches played or scheduled to be played as part of Group A involving the Cook Islands or Vanuatu shall be deemed to have not taken place for the purposes of determining the group standings.
The match between the Solomon Islands and Tahiti scheduled to take place on 24 March 2022 will act as a single play-off match to determine the winner and runner-up of Group A. In accordance with article 20 paragraph 11 of the Regulations for the FIFA World Cup 2022™ Preliminary Competition, if the match is level at the end of normal playing time, extra time shall be played. If the score is still level at the end of extra time, kicks from the penalty mark shall be taken to determine the winner.
Meanwhile, on the team news all the players and officials are tested negative to Covid-19 as it is a FIFA and OFC requirement to do testing a day before match day.
Defender Javin Wae is expected to be name in the starting line-up as he has fully recovered from injury sustained in the friendly match against Lions FC in Australia two weeks ago.
Felipe is likely to stick with the same starting line-up expect for Javin who could make a return in the first 11 in place of Leon Kofana who had an outstanding match against Cook Islands.
Solomon Islands and Tahiti will compete to decide the semi-final placements on Friday 24th March 2022 at 1:00am Solomon time. You can watch the match on TTV and OFC website.
SOURCE: SIFF MEDIA
