The Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) again is under the spotlight as fans and supporters of the
Solomon Islands National soccer team (Bonito) criticized the SIFF office due to
the cancelled short Australian tour which has been planned earlier before the start of the Nations cup.
The angry supporters voiced out
their disagreement after SIFF cancelled its tour and decided to go for a
province tour instead. The province tour is made to Malaita Province, one of
the largest populated area and a soccer loving province in the Solomons. During
the tour, they played a friendly match against a select side from the province,
which is called Malaita select. The Capital of the province, Auki is where the friendly match has been played.
A fan said that this is really a poor preparation for the host Nations
National squad.
Fans are very disappointed with how the national team is preparing
for one of the best tournament of Oceania’s history.
This does not reflect a good preparation for the squad especially when the Solomon Islands is the host for the biggest football tournament in Oceania.The friendly match against an Auki select side is not competitive enough when the squad is preparing to play teams such as New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia to name a few.
Despite the cancellation of the
tour and the criticism, the assistant coach Mr Laurent Papillion is confident
that the Solomon Islands team is ready for the battle.
Criticism at this stage with such short time will do no good to the preparations of the team.
Also in a press conference on Monday last week, the Solomon Islands Bonito midfielder, Mostyn Beui also responded to the critics.
No players are downhearted about the cancellation of the tour.
The players understand the situation that has kept the tour from progressing and have all heads back to trainings.
Meanwhile, a
friendly match which was also scheduled to play against the Vanuatu national
side is also cancelled.
With the
inclusion of the other two biggest football names in Solomon Islands, Hendry Fa’arodo and Nelson Sale,
the team described this a boost.
Both players
have been playing for overseas clubs in New Zealand and Vanuatu respectively.
Mr Beui further
stated that the inclusion of the boys really boost the fighting spirit of the
boys in the Bonito squad.
Fa’arodo and Sale have been key players in the national team way back and their current inclusion means a lot to us players, especially the new faces in the team.
The duo are also earmarked to take up the most leading role in any football
team. They are the candidates for the captaincy role and also Benjamin Totori
as the third player being
eyed to take on the role.
The assistant coach, Mr Papillon also labelled Fa’arodo as a very good and
proactive player who believes in the team’s potential.
Honiara will be the center of focus starting this Friday where the games
will kick start at Lawson Tama stadium. From 1st of June to the 10th
of June.
What is SIFF? Your colour scheme is hard on the eyes! Those links are hard to see. Maybe change the colour. Why capitalise Capital? Combine paragraphs three and four and your block quotes. No superscripts in dates.
ReplyDeleteCritics are helpful but if it blows out of proportion then it may become dangerous. The tour has been cancelled and what the Solomon football side needs now is support from the local fans. The country is going to host a very big soccer event which will serve as stage 3 of the World Cup qualifiers. Fans need to get behind the team and rally home a possible victory in the full strength squad. They are yet to qualify for any 11-a-side soccer World Cup but Solomons has been to 5-a-side soccer World Cup.
ReplyDeleteThis shows they have potential to do well in the 11 men game but the last distraction for them could be-not having support from local fans. Solomon Island is in a pool of death where they face unbeaten side from the last World Cup, New Zealand (All Whites), rivals Fiji and ever improving Papua New Guinea.
As I always say 'stop crying and grow up'. Crying over the spilt milk will not help in any way. Accept the cancellation of the tour and get out in numbers to the Lawson Tama stadium and support your home team.
Firstly, I know little about soccer. Secondly, I did not know that there was a tournament (involving the Solomon squad) that was a prepatory event for something larger (World Cup), so thank you for enlightening me on these things. I quite like the rainy window look of your blog but some of the colors are a little hard on the eyes:) Or it might just be my old eyes! This is an interesting blog, but what are the authors views on what is happening? Do you agree that the team has been left underprepared? Or are they good enough to travel, please the fans and then compete at an international level? Where do they stand on the interntional rankings (or at least in Oceania?) and what has been their best result?
ReplyDeleteI'd like to think that before NZ's performance in the last World Cup, they were fairly unknown, perhaps the Solomons time to shine is just around the corner too! :)
It is very disappointing to observe Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) continues to ill support any football national squad of Solomon Islands in any national tournament.The same thing happens again. Just recently the national under 23s national squad who were in awful performance during the London Olympic qualification held in New Zealand also in similar poor support and preparation.It is a normal thing for them (SIFF) to face criticisms from public but they never realized their mistakes. Hosting such important tournament where countries are to compete for a placement in 2014 world cup is a vital thing for SIFF to seriously consider. The host nation should be well prepared likewise having international friendly matches to outfit them to be more competitive. I think having friendly match with a provincial squad is unwelcome when hosting such biggest tournament in Oceania.Generally SIFF deserve public criticisms for such poor management and lack organizing good preparation.Now the time is on the clock and fans should stay focus and support the team.
ReplyDeleteWhen you talked about soccer to any Solomon Islanders they would love to response and said something good about soccer. But not when it comes to preparation for an event like Oceania Nation Cup for a short time. The Solomon Islands team has potential players and I believe they can make it through their first game. Even though the short Australia friendly match has been cancelled, but i`am sure we have Hendry Fa`arodo and Nelson Sale as experienced players. However, at this stage the players need continues support from the public will help cheer the players. I don`t think we should keep blaming the Solomon Islands Football Federation(SIFF), but come out as true person and support the team. Meanwhile, I believed SIFF will in the near future at any event like OFC will learn from their past mistake and try organizing two or three friendly games before the event starts.
ReplyDeleteA game like soccer have two options to achieve as a team at the end.That is it is either a lose or a win.This two are all determined by how the players of the team work hard towards the final performance of the matches.It is simple if the team work hard they will win and if they do not work hard then they will not make it to the expectations of the supporters...Solomon soccer team is just like that they work hard they will win ,the final whistle determines who wins..We as a team or spectators should be ready to achieve what the outcome will be like..a win or a loose.But let us wish our boys well in their matches may they make it worth for the public to see. I should say that they can make it because they have the nation's heart and dream
ReplyDelete