Navua Coach Saiyad Ali says the side will put a lot of emphasis on set piece play and team combinations before taking the field in the semifinals of the 2023 Rooster Chicken/Scoops Ice Cream Battle of the Giants next month.
Ali said they have one month and according to him, there’s enough time to work on the weak areas and make improvements.
“Whenever we went into the attacking third of the game, we lost possession in the set piece play. We didn’t put in a lot of energy in our finishing and at that point, the opponents took advantage of us.”
“Players will be given time to work on their skills and passing so that they are able to combine well on the field.”
Ali said the team is well aware that playing in the semifinal is always a different ball game and they will need to lift up their performance.
“In the past tournaments, we have seen that every team becomes threatening in the semifinal so we also have to put on a much stronger performance than what we displayed in the pool stages.”
“We are yet to know which team we will meet but whichever team we are to play against, we’ve got to be ready for that. The team will work on various strategies in the given time.
“If you look at our performance, we keep improving in every game and that’s very encouraging for the team. We will need to lift the standard of our game and start having more possession of the ball and avoid making decisions in a rush.”
The Southern Forest sponsored Navua qualified as Group A runners-up with five points while Fiji FACT champs Lautoka topped with seven points.
