Courtesy: Oceania Football Web Site


Tahiti's desire to reign in Oceania

In the lead-up to the OFC Futsal Championship Invitational oceaniafootball.com will present a rundown on each of the seven teams who will participate in the tournament at Auckland’s The Trusts Arena from 23-27 July.

Today we are bringing you the latest on Tahiti who will arrive in Auckland with plans to better their result in 2011, where they finished runner-up, and continue building up to the FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifiers in 2015.

Attending the OFC Fustal Championship this year is just one step in Tahiti coach Heitapu Hunter’s plans to dominate the game in the region with their 2011 loss to Solomon Islands in the OFC final proving his side has a good chance of making it to the FIFA Futsal World Cup.

‘’We need to go home and start getting ready for 2015 because we think we can beat them,’’ Hunter said following the 6-4 loss.

Futsal was launched in the French territory in 2005 and is the fastest growing indoor discipline in French Polynesia. Since its launch, The Fédération Tahitienne de Football has seen more than 4,700 futsal players register and 600 referees. FTF organises regular coaching and referee courses in Tahiti and in the other islands to keep the discipline and the level growing in the country.

Tahiti finished runner-ups at the OFC Futsal Championship in 2008 and 2011 losing to the Solomon Islands on both occasions. In 2008, the competition was a single round-robin format where the top team qualified for the World Cup. Solomon Islands finished the qualifiers with one loss while Tahiti lost one game and drew one. The 2011 OFC Futsal Championship was organised following a round-robin with two groups, semi-finals and a final. Tahiti were leading 4-1 but eventually went down 4-6 to hand Solomon Islands the tickets to Thailand.

After having qualified for the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2009, the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in 2011 and 2013, as hosts, plus their fairy tale ascent to professional football at the FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil last month, Tahiti want to write another page in the history books by becoming Oceania’s representative at the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2016. If they successfully reach that objective, they will be the first country to represent OFC in three different disciplines at a FIFA tournament.

‘’After Tahiti qualified for the Confederations Cup and the Beach Soccer World Cup, it is obvious that our futsal team has to qualify for the FIFA Futsal World Cup in 2016,’’ Hunter says.
The upcoming OFC Futsal Championship Invitational is the perfect test for Tahiti to judge themselves against both Oceanian teams and AFC representatives Australia and Malaysia.

‘’We will play some good teams like Australia and Malaysia during this tournament so it would be a good opportunity to assess our level,’’ he says.

“We haven’t made a lot of changes to our style or make-up since 2011 because, in my opinion, Tahiti fulfilled its mission.”

Tahiti’s preparation for this month’s event started in early April when New Zealand travelled to French Polynesia for a series of three friendly games. The Aito Arii completed a 3-0 clean sweep of the Futsal Whites in the first FIFA sanctioned international futsal series to be held in French Polynesia, recording 3-1, 4-2 and 2-0 victories.

“Our preparations are going very well. We have been training six times a week, with each session lasting two hours. Tahiti will do its best, we are training as is necessary and we will be ready for Auckland,” Hunter says.

Tahiti are now coming to Auckland to participate at the OFC Futsal Championship Invitational from 23-27 July and share Group B with Australia, Vanuatu and the NZ Invitational team.






Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com