Cusco, also Beach Soccer Worldwide Executive Vice-President, is incredibly excited by the upcoming showpiece of beach soccer which he believes is set to take the game to a new level, setting all new standards both in Oceania and around the World.
“The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup represents a grand opportunity for us to bring this sport to a region where we have never been, a region where people always dreamed of going,” Cusco says.
“We are promoting the sport in a region which is naturally ready for it, because there are magnificent beaches here. We can’t forget that this game is played on the sand.”
Cusco says the work of the Local Organising Committee, led by CEO Noeline Parker and President Vairani Davio, is deserving of a ten-out-of-ten mark.
“They have done an enormous amount of work and have put great professionalism and large structures in place for this to be a success, but most importantly, they have great passion for what they are doing,” Cusco says.
“Today we find ourselves at a point where the level of organisation is absolutely perfect. We are very happy to be arriving at the opening of the World Cup with top level organisation in place, which rivals that in countries that are much more evolved in terms of the level of sporting events.”
Cusco believes Tahiti’s own Tiki Toa have a very good chance of leaving the group stages this time around following their build-up which has spanned close to a year.
“We know the Tiki Toa well. They were in Europe and we have watched them a lot. They have undergone an extraordinary evolution. They have enthusiasm, they work very hard and I think that they have a good chance to have a very good tournament.”
The Tiki Toa opens their campaign against the UAE on September 19 while Oceania’s second World Cup qualifying side Solomon Islands face the Netherlands on the same evening.

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