Batten down the hatches

Opinions / Analysis

GIVEN Fiji’s win-less games against Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia, semifinal against New Zealand will be a no contest.

All Whites will host Fiji in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Oceania Qualifiers match in Wellington in March, 2025.

Its game over.

Why?

Because the country’s wretched standard isn’t cutting it against the island nations, let alone New Zealand, who will not only obliterate them but shatter their dreams of making it to their first ever World Cup.

Dreams doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.

While the footballers broke sweat, the reality is, they were hard work and determination shy, who put themselves into the predicament as double draws, 3-3 to Papua New Guinea and 1-1 to New Caledonia had them finish second in their pool and that setup an unavoidable clash against the all-whites.

With Fiji's football style they failed to beat PNG and New Caledonia and are not worthy to be part of football’s prestige event the World Cup.

Fijian footballers try, but it isn’t good enough to win football games, and that’s a  bitter truth.

Mentally

Footballers need to change their mentality and learn the reality of soccer nowadays.

It's not enough to be good anymore, you have to be good, be very well mentally and physically prepared, be willing to play, mark and defend even for offensive players, and follow the tactics precisely.

Tactical evaluation

Football isn’t just playing ball, it is about the mind, body, tactics and techniques.

For football tactics have evolved, with an emphasis on structured and disciplined play.

Fiji don’t have a style who struggle against teams that are more tactically organized, offensively smart and defensively solid.

Management and strategy

Changes in coaching staff and management strategies can influence team performance.

Inconsistent leadership or a lack of clear vision can hinder a team's ability to compete at the highest levels.

And this is where the problem lies, as FFA changes national coaches on the fly every few years and it affects training and development programs to strategy.

Lack of identity

The current Fiji team are a pale shadow of their illustrious predecessors of 1980s and 2000s.

Then,they had immeasurably gifted players like Abdul Mannan, Kelemedi Vosuga ‘Cheetah’, Ivor Evans, Savenaca Waqa, Stan Morrell, Rusiate Waqan, Radike Nawalu, Esala Masi, Alipate Driu, Manoa Masi and Emosi Baleiniku.

To this day, Fiji have yet to discover gems like them.

The new generation lacks identity.

It’s time Roy

And if country’s only professional footballer Roy Krishna could win the team games then he would have.

But in football good isn’t about scoring on just penalties, the coaches and Roy fail to realise that football requires more than just a few runs to touches, it’s a collective effort for the 90-minutes.

Heir apparent

The frequent asked question? who is heir apparent, the answer lies with Roy’s bow.

And as a true servant of the sport and nation he has put in time, but football isn’t always about personal highs but national interests, as no one is bigger than the sport, give it up.

The coaching staff must be faulted because they don’t allow Sairusi Nalaubu and or Christopher Wasasala game time.

Batten down the hatches

Rob Sherman couldn’t have put it any better, ‘rubbish’, after the all even scoreline against New Caledonia.

“We played rubbish football in the second half.”

When do they not? and in a game of 90 minutes, expect more of the same or worse against the 2-time 1982 and 2010 World Cup qualifier.

It’s a no contest.