Cole To Scout For More Players

Digicel Fijian Women’s football coach, Lisa Cole, is sat­isfied with the fitness level of the national training squad.

However, there is still more work to be done before the World Cup qualifiers in June.

The American coach joined the squad at the Fiji Football Association headquarters on Monday for their first training session.

“After training on Monday we had our first fitness test on Thursday. We now have some scores and ideas on that,” Cole said.

“I can confirm that with the countries I have worked with and the standard of top teams at the World Cup. I can see where we are.

“So I will start to work on that fitness level as well as train­ing them in their individual environment.

“I’m pleased with how they play, the energy and their will­ingness to learn so far,” she added.

There are 24 women in camp with a few students to join later after completing their external exams.

“The youngest player at the moment is 18-years-old and the oldest is 28. So about 10-year gap in between, which isn’t bad.

“I’m sure there are still some players out there, we will try to make sure that we mix good young talent with experience.

“The big thing for this training camp is to get to know the players that are being already identified specifically this group.”

Cole indicated she will be scouting for players from the women’s Inter-District Championship (IDC) and other do­mestic competitions.

“Hopefully, I will be able to get out and about to other towns and places to see who else is out there who could match the level and push, us a bit.

“Over the next month that will be priority; have we identi­fied the top players that can play for the country.

“Then March to April, I really want to narrow in who is in team so we can prepare for our games and events.”

Cole is targeting about 25 players in her final squad.

New dates

Meanwhile, the OFC Women’s Nations Cup that was sched­uled to be played in January-February, this year has been pushed back to June-July while the Women’s World Cup be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand and is sched­uled to take place from July 20 to August 20, 2023.

Feedback: sereana.salalo@fijisun.com.fj