NADI: The Fiji FACT tournament has reached the semi-final stage today with four teams left standing and no doubt with weary legs after a hectic weekend of football action at Prince Charles Park.
In perhaps the tougher of the two semis, national league champs Ba play the star-studded Nadi team in one semi, while surprise Pool 2 winners Suva will take on Pool 1 runner up Rewa.
Ba expectedly won Pool 1 while the hosts Nadi were shunted from the top spot in Pool 2 after going down in an upset to Suva 1-3. Led by Fijian international Thomas Vulivuli, Suva shut down Nadi’s strike force of Veresa Toma and Solomon Islands international Batram Suri to secure the easier route to the final. Suva has been the team to impress thus far going through the preliminaries with straight victories – the only team to do so. Rewa was the last to qualify for the semis after drawing with Lautoka.
About 20,000 people have passed through the gates and Fiji Football Association chief executive Bob Kumar is confident of a good turnout today.
“We have had a good tournament despite the unfavourable weather,” Kumar told the Daily Post. “We will be opening the gates at 7am tomorrow (today).”