South Korea through
Specialised futsal players a long shot: Sam
SOUTH Korea finished second in Asian Cup Group E after Malaysia held them to a 3-3 draw yesterday with an equaliser in the 15th minute of added time which left Bahrain top of the standings after a 1-0 win over Jordan. Bahrain ended with six points thanks to Abdulla Yusuf Helal’s winner and South Korea finished on five. Jordan, third with four points, also went through as one of the best third-placed teams. Saudi Arabia, who had already guaranteed a last-16 spot, topped Group F after they were held to a goalless draw by Thailand while Oman failed to advance after a 1-1 draw with Kyrgyzstan. Oman finished with two points and Indonesia (three points in Group D) advanced for the first time with a better record as a third-placed team along with Syria, Palestine and Jordan.
HAVING specialised players for respective football codes would be a challenge.
This was according to Fiji Futsal head coach Jerry Sam who said the idea of having specialised futsal players scares him.
Last month, Fiji Football Association chief executive Mohammed Yusuf said they want to move away from having 11-a-side football players make up the national futsal and beach soccer teams.
He added the Fiji FA is moving in a direction where they want to have different players in the three different codes.
However, coach Sam thinks this is a long shot.
“I come from the Solomon Islands and there we give opportunities to all players because futsal is still new,” he said.
“We don’t have professional leagues for players to focus on the code, if you try and identify specialised futsal players, they will demand but how can we support them. We are about the well-being of our players, their welfare so I was a bit afraid of that idea because as coaches we’ll find it hard as we don’t have players.
“Here they prefer districts then the national team and that’s the challenge that us coaches face so, trying to restrict players is somewhat a fear for me.”
The head coach drew examples from the Solomon Islands and New Zealand teams.
“In the Solomons, we open it and that’s why you see the entire football team are all futsal players. New Zealand which won the OFC Nations Cup, they have about five to six futsal players so, it’s up to the board to make decisions and as for me I’ll just be here to do my job and make sure the code is developed here in Fiji.”
Sam, who was the technical advisor for the national futsal team in 2019, has also been heavily involved with the development of the sport at the grassroot level.