Fiji futsal head coach Jerry Sam admitted that lack of concentration resulted in a 7-2 loss to defending champions New Zealand in their second Group A match of the OFC Futsal Nations Cup last night.
Fiji trailed by 3-1 at the break and Sam said the side lost their focus in the second half for which they also failed to execute their game plan.
“We came back strong in the second half but just the lack of concentration caused us three goals. The boys went down a bit but we changed the style of our play. We want to apply pressure and show hunger to find a goal which we did late,” Sam told OFC Media.
“We need to regroup again and watch the video to see the technical and tactical aspects of the game that we need to improve for the Vanuatu match.”
“By the end of the day, it depends on the players despite the strengths of the teams we play against. It all depends on how the players execute what is on the call at that moment.”
Sam added despite Fiji featuring in the tournament without playing any friendly matches in the build-up phase, they are hoping to reach the final this year.
“We learned a lot despite not playing in any friendly at all and then we came here for OFC.”
“When you look at the other OFC teams, they go and have their international friendlies and prepare for such tournaments.”
“For us, we just prepared back home and came to New Zealand to compete but I believe our hopes are still alive and we got a chance to play against Vanuatu.”
Fiji will face Vanuatu in their third group match at 6pm at the Bruce Pullman Arena in Auckland tomorrow.
