Navua Coach Confident Of Qualifying Despite Mishap

Navua FC head coach Sayed Ali believes his young side can fin­ish strongly in the 2022 Courts Interdistrict Championship.

This was after they drew with Suva 0-0 at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva yes­terday.

The match was held up for a few min­utes after the Navua goalkeeer Viliame Rakuro was fouled by a Suva player and tempers went flaring.

Ali told SUNsports that the young side came into the match wanting to score two goals against the hosts.

“Last week at training we mapped out a plan that is to either win by two goals or stop Suva from scoring,” he said.

“We knew they were going to come out firing because they are a well-balanced side both attack and defence.

“It’s good to see these young boys standing up to the test and they gave the experienced Suva side a good run for their money.

“The boys stuck to the game plan from the start and kept pressuring the Suva goal mouth.”

Ali said if they continue to play as a team then they would get the results they want.

“These young boys have what it takes to beat big teams and that showed after we held Suva to a draw.”

TODAY’s FOCUS

He added that finishing would be something they look into it before play­ing Nadi today.

“We had a lot of goal scoring oppor­tunities but we failed to score goals, which is very important,” he said.

“The plan now is to try and score goals so we can qualify from our pool.

“We have players that can score goals but they have to gain that confidence to turn opportunities into points.”

“Nadi is always a good side, we have to lift our game when we face them today because they also drew with Nadroga.

“They’ll be also looking for their first win in the tournament but for now we are going to regroup and see what we can do against Nadi.

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