Fiji’s historic under-20 World Cup debut

Football trail blazers, Fiji, won’t park the bus and defend at all costs when they open the Fifa under-20 World Cup against the might of Germany.

Fiji face a baptism of fire when they kick off the tournament at Christchurch’s AMI Stadium on Monday afternoon.

It will be a historic day for the Pacific Island nation, who will be playing their first match in a Fifa World Cup at any age-level.

With New Zealand automatically qualifying as host nation, Fiji were able to secure the spot from Oceania

Fiji topped the standings at the six-team Oceania under-20 championship last year, winning four games and drawing the other.

All signs point towards a lopsided rout against Germany, who are one of the pre-tournament favourites, having won last year’s under-19 European championship.

It shapes as a busy afternoon for Fijian goalkeeper Misiwani Nairube, who is expected to start.

Many of the German players are on the books of Bundesliga clubs, the country’s top football league.

Attacking midfielder Julian Brandt featured in the Champions League for Bayer Leverkusen this past season.

Fiji are being guided by former Australian coach Frank Farina, who mentored the Socceroos from 1998-2005.

He was realistic about their prospects and was hopeful they could gain respect, competing on the biggest stage for the first time.

The Fijian squad were amazed with the technical ability of the Germans when they studied video footage this week.

Farina, who has previously coached the Brisbane Roar and Sydney FC in the A-League, said they would aim to play positively.

‘‘We want to play a counterattacking style of football based on a solid defence.

‘‘We’ll try and defend, but our best chances are with the counterattack. If we can press high, we’ll press high.’’

Fiji had to be careful not to be too ambitious and push too many numbers forward.

‘‘You just can’t throw everything at them, because it could be over after 15 minutes if you try and do that.’’

Fiji have played three warm-up games in the lead up to the tournament.

They held their own against Mexico [3-0 loss] and Colombia [2-1 loss], in Sydney, but found the going tough in Cambridge last Monday on a boggy pitch, losing 7-0 to Hungary.

Matching up against the clinical Germans will be the toughest football assignment of their fledgling careers.

‘‘Fiji would never have seen a level that they’ll come up against like that,’’ Farina said.

‘‘That’s a learning curve. That’s exactly what, not only Fiji, but the Pacific Islands need. They need more exposure to top-level football.’’

It was important the Fijian players were not overawed by the occasion or opposition.

Farina said the players were trail blazers for the game back home.

All, but one, of the Fijian team play in their national league competition.

Football is the second most popular men’s sport in the country behind rugby, which enjoys a fanatical following.

They had received strong messages of support and all their matches were being televised live back home.

‘‘It’s a wonderful achievement. These boys will go down in history as the first team to achieve that.’’

Farina hoped they could perform solidly at the under-20 World Cup to show the Oceania confederation was more competitive than people thought. He was approached by Fiji Football after finishing up as Sydney FC coach.

After initially serving as the under-20 team’s technical adviser, he eventually became coach, and was enjoying the challenge.

Farina has experience working with island football nations, previously coaching the Papua New Guinea national team. He finishes in the Fiji role at the end of June.

For Fijian football to improve, there needed to be greater emphasis on both coaching and player development, he said.

‘‘If both of those areas are focused on, within five to six or eight years, you could have Fiji challenging New Zealand seriously for a spot in these [Fifa] competitions.’’

Uzbekistan and Honduras, the other two sides in Group F, clash in the later game in Christchurch on Monday.