Justus, women’s development officer for the Solomon Islands Football Federation, departed Honiara to take up the two-week engagement on the weekend and will join New Zealand’s Junior Football Ferns in flying the flag for Oceania.
The Junior Ferns got their campaign off to the perfect start yesterday by beating Switzerland 2-1 and will also face hosts Japan and Mexico in pool play.
The Japanese sojourn marks the second time Justus has been called up for international duty by FIFA, her first invitation coming in 2010 when she was asked to be a member of the technical study group for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.
The 28-year-old is delighted to have received another call up and aims to make the most of the experience.
“Working at the FIFA level for such assignments requires a lot of dedication and concentration,” she says.
“For me, this is a step up from my last outing and I hope to learn more and build my confidence in this important aspect of football.”
Justus will initially be based in Hiroshima, where Group D of the tournament is being staged, and will work on four matches – Ghana-USA, Germany-China, Ghana-Germany and USA-China. She will then move onto Tokyo to offer her technical expertise on the Korea Republic-Brazil and Switzerland-Japan clashes.
The technical study group’s priority at each FIFA tournament is to observe teams in matches and training sessions. Initial impressions are fleshed out in a series of in-depth conversations, with the objective of prompting discussion and an exchange of views.
The information is collected in a report made available to FIFA member associations afterwards as a development tool. The key goals are raising quality thresholds and promoting individual player development.
For more on Solomon Islands football go to www.siff.com.sb

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