The second edition of the annual tournament kicks off tomorrow with Tahiti in Group A along with world champions and 2011 victors Russia, host nation the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America.
Tomorrow night the Tiki Toa campaign opens against the UAE and with the meeting at last year’s edition ending 6-2 in favour of the hosts, player-coach Teva Zaveroni is expecting another difficult match in front of the home crowd.
“It will be difficult to win against the hosts. They will have their public with them, but I think now we are ready to face them,” Zaveroni says.
On Wednesday the Tiki Toa come up against a formidable Russian side that has twice beaten the Tahitians, including at the 2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, while on Thursday they will play the USA – a team which remains relatively unknown to the Tahitians.
Zaveroni says while he does not know the level of the United States squad as a whole, he has seen several of its players evolve in the Swiss Beach Soccer League.
“The goalkeeper and the central defender are very good players and participated in the final of the Swiss Cup with their team Solothurn,” he says.
With his team having improved immensely since it last encountered the UAE and Russia, Zaveroni expects the matches to be quite competitive.
“I think we have progressed, notably thanks to the time some of our players spent in Switzerland participating in the Swiss league and in daily training with the Swiss team,” Zaveroni says.
“I have to thank my friend Angelo Schirinzi, coach of the Swiss national team, who has contributed a lot to the technical evolution of the Tiki Toa’s players.”
The team’s objective for the tournament is to try and progress to the next round, though Zaveroni says he does not want to make any early predictions on the likelihood of achieving that.
“I don’t want to concentrate on whether or not we make it to the next round, I prefer to concentrate on the first game then take the tournament match by match.”
The Tiki Toa’s first match kicks off tomorrow at 8.30pm local time against the UAE.
For more on Tahiti football go to www.ftf.pf

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