Today we are bringing you the latest on Solomon Islands who will arrive in Auckland aiming to keep their supremacy in the futsal discipline in the Oceania region.
Australia dominated futsal in Oceania from 1992 to 2004 before leaving OFC to join AFC in 2006 allowing a new country to emerge and print their marks on the futsal discipline, Solomon Islands.
Solomon Islands, who have become known as the Kurukuru, played their first international game against Australia at the OFC Futsal Championship in 2004. The Kurukuru experienced a difficult tournament with only one win and four losses, finishing at the bottom of the ladder.
Four years later, they came back stronger and reversed the trend to finish the 2008 OFC Championship with one loss. Even with that loss the team managed to capture its first OFC futsal title and with that qualified for their first ever FIFA Futsal World Cup in Brazil.
The first experience for the Kurukuru on the world was difficult. They shared their group with top ranked teams like Japan, Cuba, Russia and future winners Brazil. Their campaign ended with four losses but it proved to be a great experience for the coming years.
With the experience gained, Solomon Islands came back to the OFC Futsal Championship in 2009 better than before finishing the tournament unbeaten and winning the final 8-1 against Fiji. A year later, they remained undefeated and once again brought the OFC futsal trophy home. In 2011, Solomon Islands arrived in Fiji for the FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifiers with an aura of invincibility.
That status was confirmed throughout the group stage with three victories on three games and continued with an easy win in the semi-finals against Vanuatu, and they reached the final where they faced Tahiti. The French Polynesians took the lead quickly but after a strong comeback the champions brought home their fourth OFC title in-a-row and a second qualification for the FIFA Futsal World Cup.
‘’It feels amazing, this is our dream. We have worked hard for this and we really deserve it,’’ said captain Elliot Ragomo after the qualification.
‘’We will make both the Solomon Islands and Oceania proud. Last time, we didn’t do very well but I promise Oceania that we will fight for every single minute at this World Cup. People need to know that futsal is growing in the Pacific and the world should be aware of the Pacific countries,’’ he added.
The Kurukuru captain anticipated representing Oceania with pride at the FIFA Futsal World Cup and the team went to Thailand having undertaken their best preparation campaign to date in an effort to help make his words come true. A difficult group awaited the OFC champions including Columbia, Guatemala and Russia. Their campaign started with two heavy losses against eventual quarter-finalists Russia and the fourth-placed Columbia. But despite these results, Solomon Islands gave their all in the final game to finally write another successful chapter in the Solomon Islands’ history book after beating Guatemala 4-3 with a last minute goal from 16-year-old goalkeeper Antony Talo.
‘’We are very happy because this is a great victory for our nation, which is one of the smallest islands in the world,” coach Dickson Kadau said.
Since 2008, Solomon Islands have been the reigning futsal champions in Oceania and will do their best to retain that dominance at the OFC Futsal Championship Invitational 2013 from 23-27 July. They share Group A with New Caledonia, Malaysia and New Zealand.

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