NATIONAL LEAGUE REvIEW FUTSAL WHITES ... - Futsal4all - Futsal

15“We need to have strengthNew Zealand Football | FUTSAL “The Power of Five” Blackin& Whitedepth to© CreativeBcompete...we’Ve now got this going intoNew Zealand Football | FUTSAL “The Power of Five” Black & White © CreativeBank 2010our new campaign in Fiji 2011.”What about the other teams in Oceania?The Solomon Islands have set thebenchmark in our region. What qualities dothey bring to the game?Flair, technical ability and passion. Plus theage of the team is young. Due to their agestheir movement is outstanding!It would be dangerous to underestimatethe other Oceania teams in this year’sWorld Cup Qualifiers. Tahiti were technicallyvery good last time and Fiji and Vanuatuboth gave New Zealand a tough time. NewCaledonia managed to beat a tired NZ sideon the last night, so would you agree, itsreally ‘up for grabs’ this time round?Yes - totally agree. The team that is bestorganised on and off the court will win and Ihope we can achieve this but everyone elseis striving for that also. The other Oceaniateams are targeting futsal as their bestopportunity for a place in a World Cup soyou can imagine the effort and support theywill get to achieve their desired outcome. Webeat Fiji and were up against the Solomonsbut lost our last game so total concentrationis needed. I think we could have an edgementally if we ‘prepare to win’.You’ve spoken before about the changeof format to the tournament (group play,followed by semi final and final). You feelthat this will suit New Zealand?Yes I do and it gives us an opportunity ina one-off game in a semi-final and alsoall the teams play the same amount ofgames at the same time, with no rest days.We didn’t get a rest day last year becauseours came on day one! Our loss to NewCaledonia was on the last day and we werejaded - but no excuses, as everyone thistime has the same court and game time.The inaugural NZ Football Futsal NationalLeague has been another highlight on thefutsal calendar this year. Obviously thiswill have been of major benefit to the NZplayers going into a World Cup Qualifyingtournament. Were you impressed by thestandard of play in the National League?Yes. The benefits are that the players willhave been training and playing and alsomaintaining fitness. The standard wasgood and it improved throughout. Welldone to Dave Payne and all the coachesand players for this league and having verygood commentary and coverage onlinehelped the product be seen by a wideraudience.You have picked an exciting squad forthe training programme leading into theWorld Cup Qualifiers. Any thoughts on thequalities of this group of players?Experienced and talented, but also a groupthat will work hard and as people willget on. I will learn more about the newintroductions in camp, but our playersmust play in the team and not for the team.No one is bigger than the team, or moreimportant.It was a tough end to your ASB Premiershipcampaign in your ‘day job’ at Hawke’s BayUnited. To miss out on qualification afterbeing two minutes away from Hawke’sBay’s first ever playoffs must have beentough on your young squad...It was a big, big blow. We had the best everstart recorded by our franchise and also thehighest league position. We then went andwon for the first time in Auckland (againstWaitakere United) so to not qualify wasunreal. So close - 88 minutes - a goal isscored and your training session just ends.We were gutted - the boys literally fell tothe floor. We had not lost for five gamesand then to not qualify at the end wastough. But we will learn and hopefully moveon. But for a province like ours with obviouschallenges, I was pleased we were noticedand recognised.Has your football background been ofmajor benefit in your futsal coachingwith the Futsal Whites? And is futsal nowinfluencing your football work with United?I have implemented similar physiological,psychological and team buildingcomponents to both forms of the game,and have always had futsal as a trainingcomponent at Hawke’s Bay United. Futsalis very similar but smaller in scale so thereare cross overs. I think my experience ofman and team management has beenof benefit in the Futsal Whites and theinternational games have helped me betterunderstand the needs domestically.The World Cup is a long way off, but it mustfeel like it is achievable?I love this quote and use it a lot in theteams I work with - “The winner is notalways the biggest, strongest or mosttalented. It is the one who refuses to giveup - keep hanging in and keep believing”.That is the mentality we will take to Fiji.