BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
REACHING the semi-final in this year’s OFC Women Nation cup is a huge achievement for the Country’s National women’s football team and for women’s football.
This was according to Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) Women’s Football Development Officer Antoinette Miniti in an exclusive interview with Raw sports Newspaper.
“To reach the semi-final is a huge achievement for this team and for women’s football,’’ she told Raw sport today.
She said the players, team officials, Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) and organisations must be acknowledged.
“We must acknowledge the players, team officials, SIFF and other individuals and organizations that have supported this team in their preparation towards and during the tournament.
“The team proved themselves worthy of getting in the top 4. Despite the challenges and setbacks, the team remained resilient and determined to reach the semi-finals,’’ she said.
She said that reaching the semi-finals was the crucial goal and the girls have achieved that.
“That was the ultimate goal and we achieved that. I believe that we are capable of achieving greater in the future, it’s a matter of putting in the work and the resources that should enable us to do so.
“After the OFC tournament, we have the PG2023 next year that we need to work towards later,’’ said Antoinette.
She said the team composition is made up of experienced players but also a lot of new young players.
“We actually have a range of good players who will be playing couple more years so this is good experience for them to learn from and grow.
“Comparison to previous teams, this team is faster and stronger, confident and determined. But off course, there are still areas both on and off the field that we really need to work on in order to beat the other teams. For example, we need quality in our ball handling, we must try to keep possession of the ball, we need to score and things like that,’’ she said.
Meanwhile the Women’s development officer said that the play off will be another exciting game.
“Samoa is a fairly young team, very improved side, a lot of young talent that are lucky to be playing in New Zealand so we cannot underestimate them.
“I trust the technical staff will be put together a plan to try and win the game on Saturday, which will be a very good way to finish off the tournament,’’ concluded Antoinette.
SOLOMON Islands will play Samoa on Saturday in the OFC women’s Nation Cup 3rd and 4th playoff in Fiji after they didn’t manage to hold on to their penalty shoot lead on Wednesday second semi-finals.
This was the First time in History the Solomon women’s national side had made it through to the semi-finals in OFC women’s nation cups.
The final score on Wednesday was Solo 1 and Fiji 3.
