Where to for Suva Soccer??

With just weeks before the Fiji FACT, the Suva Soccer Team has suffered another humiliating defeat at the hands of minnows Nadroga in front of their home crowd at the TFL National Stadium.

Suva lost 4-2 and three of the Nadro goals was scored due to goalkeeping blunder by Ilimeleki Tukai. The defeat could have been easily avoided for Suva if the players were more committed, played as a team, took their chances at goal and defended well.

Players like Joseph Mishra and Lisala ‘Bond’ Vetaukula should not be in the team. These two players have been given so much game time but yet they are not proving to be worth to the team. Mishra missed so many goals in this match but it is not new as he did that so many times in his career. If Mishra is given an open goalmouth without any goalkeeper, it would still be a probability of 50-50 chance that he will score.

Suva has abundance of players. Most of the current Suva reps do not have district pride. Suva Coach Dennis Singh is doing a good job by dropping players who he thinks are above the game. Singh is a very good coach who believes in discipline. It is about time Suva stop buying players from other districts because there are so many good players in the capital. The city boys lost out in the semis in all the major tournaments last year and finished fourth in the National League standings.

I had witnessed Suva in all tournaments last year and for me personally, Suva played good football all throughout but was unfortunate not to go further to the final. That is the time when we need a coach who can mentally prepare the players and Dennis Singh is the best man to do that.

In the match against Nadro, only three Suva players gave their all, Shamil Rao, Anish Kumar and Inosi Cava. Shamil is a Ba man, Anish is from Nasinu and Inosi is originally from Ba but has been playing for Suva since when I was in primary school.

Nadro started the match on a high by scoring first even though Suva had all the ball possession. The stallions scored again and just when we were about to leave the stadium and head home, Suva scored to give the fans some hope for a rare comeback.

The Suva fans were frustrated as the whites continued to miss golden opportunities and level the score. Then Nadro scored to make it 3-1...Suva was next to make it 3-2...Samuela Drudru of Nadro put the final nail in the coffing and send the city boys packing.
Around 4000 people came to watch the National League because a double header was on the cards. Earlier on Ba thumped Labasa 4-0.

Fiji says good- bye to HK 7s

The Fiji Sevens Team threw the towel again but this time the boys played really well. Our National team started the tournament with a comprehensive win over Thailand by 82-7. But credit goes to the Thailand side for breaching Fiji's defence, well atleast once. Day 2 started well for the boys as they thumped Portugal 45-7 and rounded up their last pool game with a hard fought victory over the Americans by 38-12. Fiji was through to the quarters to meet South Africa. Fiji scrapped through to win by 14-12 (I did not watch this game because I was at the National Stadium and cheering for Suva, unfortunately the capital city boys lost to Nadro 4-2).

Fiji played NZ in the semis, the boys were really good but they just could not get the result we wanted. Nasoni Roko was at his usual style of play. The team management should now decide that it is high time Roko should say good- bye to the team. With all due respect to his contribution to Fiji Rugby, he should be replaced with someone who has vision to control the game. Suva and Wardens sevens teams have good players who can do the job. Lets face it, Fiji's chances of winning the series for only the second time is now over. But now is the time to give the young players a chance to wear the national colours. Fiji should take young players to the next leg of the IRB Sevens series in England and Scotland. That will give them some game time before the new series begin in December.

Fiji team captain Emosi Vucago should now focus on 15's because I think at the moment Fiji do not have a nippy halfback. For me, Vucago is the best choice halfback for Fiji at the 2011 Rugby World Cup in NZ.

Fiji sevens coach Iliesa Tanivula believes that Samoa are the form team at the moment and are very consistent. They have set the target for all the other teams.

Hong Kong Sevens is over and with two tournaments left in London and Edinburgh, the focus will shift onto the last leg of the series. The national sevens team must beat the odds to come away with a win. Anyone can beat anyone on a given day because sevens rugby is improving very rapidly day by day. The current reps look fatigue and lack firepower. As I said the team management should bring in young boys for the last leg. The result will not come overnight but it will surely come.

Our Pacific Island neighbours Samoa went on to win the tournament by beating NZ in a close encounter. This was Samoa’s third consecutive win and in doing so the Islanders take a vital three point lead going into the last leg. Perhaps this result will see Samoa win the series for the first time but two tournaments are left and as the saying goes it is not over until the fat lady sings.