Possession Important says Kumar
Although the Digicel Junior Bula Boys won 3-0 over Tonga at the HFC Bank stadium on Wednesday night there is still room for improvement.
The game was delayed for 45 minutes due to the heavy downpour. Head coach Sunil Kumar said the side would need to work on key areas before they take on Cook Islands in the quarterfinal of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Under-17 championship at 4pm on Sunday at the HFC Bank Stadium.
The side had also won 3-0 in its first pool match against Samoa.
“We need to work more on keeping possession, getting those passes connected,” Kumar said.
“We had a very shaky first half; we already knew from before that it would be a tough match. They (Tonga) are very tough – the boys could not control themselves with a few cards. We ended up with a red card towards the end of the first half.” Kumar added that discipline could be costly to the side. Striker Salimone Ravonokula was red carded and coach Kumar was also shown a yellow card for questioning the referee’s decision.
The home side were left with 10men in the second spell.
“We had set some plans on how we will counter Tonga in the first half. I would say we started the second half quite well with 10 players as we managed to score two goals.
“At times physical games like this, you’re provoked. With this rainy weather there was a lot of sliding tackles.
“I will address it to the boys as discipline can cost us the game as we go further into the competition.
“It happened in the spur of the moment, there were a lot of fouls I got
a bit upset and challenged the referee’s decision
He indicated that captain Aaron Naicker would be assessed for his injury if he is to be on the team list for Sunday’s quarterfinals.