Former Ba manager and staunch supporter Sabrina Khan Vurewa says players badly lack confidence and need good guidance and mentorship.
Vurewa, who traveled from Ba with her family and friends to support the Men in Black in the semifinals of the 2023 Digicel Fiji FACT against Rewa on Saturday told FijiLive that the young players need mental and physical preparation to counter experienced opponents
“Watching the game from the stands is a totally different atmosphere. Coming into the semifinal, teams have to be mentally, physically and spiritually prepared.”
“From what I see, I feel something is lacking in the Ba team. That fierce power and confidence level in the players is not there. Like when they are supposed to shoot right in front of the goalmouth, the shots are not coming.”
“Maybe it was not our day but I still came to support them and had no hard feelings. There needs to be someone to physic up the team knowing there are a lot of under 20 players.”
The 42-year-old added the management needs to build a strong connection in the team to lift the spirit of the players.
“During our time in 2006 and 2007, when Ba made a clean sweep, we always used to boost the morale of our young boys and kept pushing them but this is something we don’t see much now from the coach.”
“Soccer back then was very different compared to what we witness now. At our time, we used to connect well with our players not just on the field but also off the field.”
“Team officials need to bond with the players well and that’s how things will fall the right way in place. It’s like a two-way thing, the players need to feel welcome towards the officials and the officials need to feel welcome towards the players.”
“They are playing really good football but the psychic part is not there and that’s when players start to fall back.”
