IDC dark horse

THE Tavua football team has considered itself as the dark horse of the 2020 Courts Inter District Championship’s Senior Division competition from October 6-11 at the ANZ Stadium in Suva.

Head coach, Nazeel Ali stated that most of the players in the squad will be appearing in their maiden tournament.

“We have a very young team,” he said.

“Most of the players in the team are school students. We will be taking each game at a time and see where it takes us.

“We are the underdogs in our pool and the onus falls on the youngsters in adapting quickly to a world-class football pitch and acclimatising to the euphoria surrounding the most important local football tournament in the country.

“If the boys stick to the game-plan, we can go all the way.”

The Tagitagi Sangam School teacher revealed they were arguably placed in the ‘pool of death’.

“We are in a very tough pool,” he commented.

“Tavua is in the same group as the senior league champions of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu respectively, it will be a mammoth task for the youngsters, however nothing is impossible. The weather conditions will be a key factor in determining the final outcome, also.”

Tavua finished fourth in the Viti Levu zone and will use the tournament to expose and further develop talented footballers in the district.

“The average age of players in the squad is 22 years. They will be guided by a few old hands, but the great thing about these youngsters is that everyone are eager to learn.

“Development of young footballers is important in Tavua because the richer Premier Division teams poach a talent by offering better monetary deals, hence a vacuum is created so having a pool of equally skilful footballers is important.”

The team is undergoing a training session each day at Garvey Park.

“Some of senior players are harvesting cane since it’s their only source of income and I am taking a session each day,” he said.