The Vodafone Fijian football team are in for a tough battle against Indonesia.

The Roy Krishna captained-side take on the Indonesian national team in a friendly match at Patriot Chandrabhaga Stadium in Bekasi on Saturday.

Fijian head coach Christophe Gamel has urged the players to put the country at heart and go for a win to improve on their world rankings.

“We’re not only playing with teams from the Pacific Islands but in Asia and Europe. This is where you have to support the coach. You can take this opportunity and prove that you can also belong to an overseas team,” Fiji FA president Rajesh Patel told the players.

For Indonesia, the Fijians are not a foreign opponent.

The Garuda team twice tasted the power of the Fijians in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers. In their first clash in Suva on May 31, 1981, Indonesia was able to hold the Fijians to a nil-all draw. Their second encounter at the Senayan Stadium on August 10, 1981, ended in a 3-3 draw. The Fijians flew out of the country last night.

Edited by Grace Narayan

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