The main event of match day one lived up to its expectations as Fiji who were down 4-1 in the last quarter fought back to level the scores and deny NZ a dream start to the playoffs.
Fiji Futsal head coach Initiaz Khan says the final result was well accepted by his side.
“I would like to thank the players for their commitment and dedication towards the side. Three goals and few minutes on the clock I knew it was enough for a comeback. I would say we scored brilliant goals compared to NZ but a major factor is that we conceded four goals so those are the areas we will need to work on,” Khan said.
Fiji skipper Kamal Hassan says his troops were not going down without a fight to the end.
“We were down and almost out but I thank the boys who did not give up hope and played till the final whistle,” he said.
NZ coach Matt Chandler applauded the Fijian side.
“It feels like a loss because at 4-1 up I felt we were controlling the game. I can’t say I’m happy with a draw and I’d much prefer to have won the game obviously. I thought we should have put the result beyond Fiji but, in credit to them, they kept going.
“It will be a character-building experience for us – it’s now about what we do next and how we react to that. I think we’ll react positively because we have a lot of quality and I thought we could have had about five goals in that first half,” he said.
Fiji fired in the first goal through Sandeep Nair but NZ regrouped to equalize before half time and increased their lead minutes in the second half as Marvin Eakins got a brace of goals.
Lucas Silva and Dylan Manickum added two more for NZ which at that stage seemed to put Fiji out of the contest.
But the local boys had other ideas as Fiji turned around their fortune in the last ten minutes. Uraia Loki scored Fiji’ second seven minutes from full time. Ajesh Narayan got the third four minutes later and Sahib scoring in the dying stages.
Other Results
Tahiti 6 Tuvalu 0
Vanuatu 9 Kiribati 2
Solomons 13 New Caledonia 5
Fiji 4 NZ 4
