National and Labasa striker Christopher Wasasala has thanked coach Intiaz Khan for giving him full game time and having faith in his abilities at the 2023 Rooster Chicken/Scoops Ice Cream Battle of the Giants.
Wasasala played a key role in anchoring the Babasiga Lions to successfully defend their title beating a gutsy Navua outfit 2-1 in the final on Sunday and walked away with the Golden Ball award.
“During the DFPL games, I didn’t score goals for Labasa as a lot of people expected from me but coming into this tournament, I wanted to prove that I can score goals. I failed at first but I kept trying and then managed to score.”
“During the team talk, I always asked the coach to give me games because I knew I was capable enough to change the fate of the team. I scored on Saturday and the boys again motivated me on Sunday to give my best.”
“I want to acknowledge the coach that despite missing some scoring opportunities he had the faith in me that I will deliver my best on the field and that’s what I did. I really wanted to make my team proud and also the coach for being humble.”
“My aim coming into this tournament was to play a full 90 minutes and not just to make numbers in the team. I wanted to give back to the team for the hard work and sacrifices they have made.”
The 31-year-old also thanked his fellow teammates for displaying a strong performance and dedicated the award to their families.
“It was a challenging match. We knew Navua would come out stronger but we managed to beat them. It was a team effort and without the boys’ efforts, we wouldn’t have achieved this.”
“We played extra time on Saturday and we talked about the mistakes we had made in the semifinal. On Sunday, we took the field keeping in mind that our families are back home and when we return we want to go with a win and acknowledge them for supporting us.”
“Everyone in the team sacrificed their family and we came to fight battles for them for believing in us although we lost the first pool games and knew that the semifinal and final wouldn’t be easy.”
Meanwhile, goalkeeper Simione Tamanisau snatched the Golden Glove Award while Lautoka’s Sairusi Nalaubu won the Golden Boot award after netting four times.
