So little wonder it was a difficult decision for the Swiss-man to whittle the final group down to just a squad of 12 for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup which is being held in Tahiti from 18-28 September.
Having led the group on a successful tour of Europe where a number of players also helped his Sable Dancers to the league title, as well as dominating two home friendly series against Netherlands and France, Schirinzi was once again pitch-side as the Tiki Toa rallied to a 6-4 victory over Argentina last week.
As the team prepares for the World Cup to kick-off on home soil, Schirinzi revisits the match against the CONMEBOL champions which was the first international hosted in To’ata stadium ahead of the World Cup.
“When you play in your country you always want to win,” Schirinzi says. “The Tiki Toa wanted to honour the public and the Argentinians wanted to show that they are potential candidates for the world title.
“It was a very important preparation match for the two teams just a few days out from the opening of the World Cup.”
The Tiki Toa coach says the performance of his team was much better than he had expected it to be.
“Physically, the players were tremendous but overall, they surprised me technically because they scored some exceptional goals. I confess that in the moment I was admiring the manner in which the Tahiti team played.”
As for whether Tahiti revealed too much of their tactical plans during the friendly, Schirinzi says that if far from the case.
“We have been working on a number of different tactical plans over the past few months, but we will use them according to who our adversaries are. Against the Argentinians the game was very aggressive through the middle, an attempt was made to force play to the flanks and the Tiki Toa did very well. But we didn’t disclose all our options, especially during specific phases of the game like corners.”
As for having the home crowd at their backs, he says if the friendly was just a preview, he can’t wait to see how they will turn out in support of the Tiki Toa once the competition kicks off.
“It was terrific with a full stadium and a public who supported us throughout the whole match. I think that that was a huge service to the Tiki Toa and if we continue to have such enthusiasm behind us at the World Cup, it will be helping push us to give even more,” Schirinzi says.
“We know that we have the advantage of playing at home, but if at each match there is the same ambiance as we experienced on Friday night that will aid in boosting us.
Our number one objective for the moment is to pass through the group phase and to qualify for the quarter finals. After, it’s true that at the end of our preparation matches in Tahiti and our tour in Europe, we have the sense that we can look even further, and the match against Argentina confirmed that.
“But we can’t fall into an excess of confidence and the group is very conscious that it will need to be even stronger for the World Cup if we envisage going as far as we can.”

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