Winning the gold medal is the ultimate goal of the national men’s football team as they ramp up preparations for the 2023 Pacific Games that will be held in the Solomon Islands in two weeks.
The Bula Boys are in their fourth week of camp and head coach Rob Sherman said they were laser-focused on key areas that they believe will make the difference come game day.
“We are working on two specific areas which are physical fitness and tactical understanding of the game.”
“There is a misnomer that we will train hard every day but that isn’t how you train. Players don’t achieve full fitness through that.”
“In our training, we try to push players to new peaks and then there is recovery so that fatigue and tiredness do not kick in but players are ready to reach new peaks.”
“We are developing the players’ cohesion as a team which we did with the Under 20 and Under 23 as part of the football framework.”
Sherman revealed that upon assembling his 23-member squad, he has been impressed with the level of consistency shown by the players and the cohesion between the senior and Fiji Under 23 players.
“There is a very good cohesion between the senior players and those the age group players. They are respectful and we have been doing culture sessions where we bind the players together.”
“Our playing style is very consistent with this group of boys and they are very much self-driven in what we expect to see from them daily.”
“The attitude from the players has been very excellent in the way they approach each training session. We want to maximise contact on the field because I have analysed a fine balance since the boys joined the camp.”
The side will depart for Honiara next Tuesday and open their Group C campaign against the Northern Marianas on the 18th.
