Fijian U19 Ready For Today’s OFC Opener Against PNG

The Digicel Fijian Under-19 football team is ready to take on Papua New Guinea in today’s Group opener of the OFC U19 Championship in Tahiti.

Coach Ronil Lal said the morale in camp was high after their suc­cessful warm-up matches in New Zealand.

“We arrived in Tahiti and the boys are eager to take the field against PNG,“ he said.

Lal said they were in the same group with Tahiti and Tonga.

“Basically we don’t know about these teams so we are only focus­ing on ourselves on how we are preparing.

“The first match against PNG will be a tricky one as they are always a good side so we have to plan for them.

“It is not impossible for us to qual­ify for the FIFA U19 World Cup, our aim is to treat each match as a final and reach the semi-final first.

“It won’t be easy but it will be a challenge and I’ve full faith in the team.

“Looking at the spirit in camp we will try our best and do the country proud,” said Lal.

Team manager Kartik Reddy said they visited the Stade Pater had on Tuesday.

“This is to allow the boys feel the match venue and we also had our final training session there,” he said.

Reddy said Lal and technical director Timo Jankowski have worked hard with the team dur­ing training along with goalkeeper coach Isaac Tetteh.

The Junior Bula Boys face PNG at 2pm and then take on Tonga on September 11 before their final group match against hosts Tahiti on September 14

Feedback: leonec@fijisun.com.fj