Bula Boys to march into camp
Lazio beat Venezia
VENICE - Lazio concluded the best calendar year in their Serie A history by beating Venezia 3-1 on Wednesday to remain in the hunt for European qualification. It was the Roman side’s 24th league win of 2021, a new club record for a calendar year, and left them in eighth place ahead of the winter break on 31 points, three behind fifthplaced Juventus.
Madrid’s shock loss
MADRID - Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone faced increased pressure yesterday after the
LaLiga champions slumped to a shock 2-1 defeat by Granada. With Atletico having lost four successive league matches for the first time since Simeone took charge in 2011, the Argentine’s role has come under scrutiny from both club supporters and Spanish media.
Cameroon recalls 7
YAOUNDE - Hosts Cameroon yesterday named seven players from the squad that won the Africa Cup of Nations finals in 2017 for next month’s tournament where they will seek to replicate that success. Coach Toni Conceiaco has much experience to call on as they take on Burkina Faso in the tournament’s opening match on Jan. 9 in Yaounde, followed by Group A meetings with Ethiopia and the Cape Verde Islands.
THE Fiji football team would be marching into camp in early January at the Fiji Football Association academy in Ba.
The side is preparing for the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) qualifiers in March 2022.
The Digicel-sponsored national team manager Anushil Kumar confirmed the Bula Boys training camp schedules.
“The boys will be marching into camp on January 10,” Kumar said.
“They will be in camp for three weeks. “There will be a break of maybe a week or two for the players when the training camp finishes. It’s a hectic schedule for the boys as the countdown to the all-important OFC qualifiers gains momentum. I thank the players, staff at Fiji FA academy in Ba and the medical staff for undertaking tremendous work to ensure the team has a secure and healthy environment for our training camps. The staging of the camp will fall under the ‘safe return to play’ protocols as outlined by the relevant authorities.”
Kumar said the Bula Boys would march into camp again in mid-February without any breaks before flying to Qatar for the 2022 OFC Qualifiers. The current 28-member extended squad would be trimmed prior to the team’s departure to Qatar.
Meanwhile, the Bula Boys would face a testing five-match OFC campaign in late March.
Fiji has group matches lined up against twotime OFC Nations Cup finalists New Caledonia, traditional rivals New Zealand and 2016 continental runners-up Papua New Guinea.
The Digicel national football team would play New Caledonia on March 18, battle New Zealand three days later and meet Papua New Guinea on March 24 to conclude their pool matches. Tahiti spearhead Group A with Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and either Tonga or the Cook Islands. Samoa and American Samoa had withdrawn from competing at the event. The matches would be staged in Qatar from March 14 to March 30 due to COVID-19 limitations.
Anushil Kumar.