National football team head coach Rob Sherman has expressed his disappointment over a Fiji’s humiliating 9-0 loss to New Zealand in the OFC Men’s Olympic Qualifier final at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland on Saturday.
“Extremely disappointing,” Sherman told FijiLive.
“Very disappointed with the final result and the performance overall.”
“In fairness to New Zealand, we were totally outclassed. They thoroughly deserve what was a comfortable win.”
“New Zealand played extremely well and their boys were in a much better position technically.”
Sherman highlighted the team failed to execute their game plan which was prevalent after conceding two goals within the first six minutes of the game.
“When we were two goals down in the first five minutes, ultimately it set the tone for the rest of the game. We were looking at mid-lock press and contain New Zealand as we tried to upset their tempo.”
“Obviously, disappointed to give away a penalty so early and that did not do us well. We came into this and played two really good games against PNG and Solomon.”
He also added that playing with 10-men after Mohammed Fataul Raheem was sent off copping his second yellow card in the match made it difficult for Fiji to make a comeback in the match.
“It wasn’t a bad performance against New Zealand in the opening match but to finish on this note takes us a long way.”
“Our discipline really cost us and some of the decisions that did not go our way in the match. We tried to frustrate New Zealand’s defence but in doing so our discipline dropped and with 10 players things got very hard for us.”
New Zealand will represent the Oceania region at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics in France.
