As a member of Les Cagous, Dominque Wacalie was one match away from qualifying for the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2012, and came close against New Zealand in the battle to qualify for the FIFA World Cup Brazil™ a year later.
With intimate knowledge of the potential of his peers throughout the French territory, the 32-year-old is well placed to lead the game forward, but knows that he’s facing a pretty big test.
“For me this role is a challenge. There are things that I need to do, and there are certain actions that need to be taken so we can help football progress, as a collective, on the territory,” Wacalie says.
“We’re doing a lot for football and it’s all very interesting. Based on my experience, what I’ve seen during my football journey, I can say with confidence that today’s football shows signs of enormous progression and we need to continue in this direction.”
Wacalie, who spent his career playing in Tahiti and France as well as on home soil, says one of the priorities for the federation is youth football, which is why the FIFA Youth Coaching Course held 20-24 July in Noumea, was important.
“One thing is certain, there’s potential in the young players throughout this country and that’s evident in the number of players who have left to play overseas,” he says.
“We, the FCF techncial department and our local coaches, are the first to work with these players, the first to train them, and this course has given us greater capacity to work with these players and take football towards a better future.
“We talk about the progress of our development project but we need to decide the main objectives for coach education first. It’s the most important aspect and we want to be very clear about the goals for the project.”
Wacalie says the recent results at the XV Pacific Games in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea is just one example of the New Caledonia’s on-field potential.
The men’s U-23 squad successfully defended their Pacific Games title with a 2-0 win over Tahiti in the final securing the gold medal, while the women performed outstandingly during the group stage and semi-finals before being downed 1-0 in the final against the hosts.
“It was definitely great for football and the country,” Wacalie says of the medal-winning performances.
“For me it’s a great satisfaction to see the results of the energy and the long hours that we have put in. These are the results of the hard work done in and around the team and we saw in these matches the potential of these players to shine and go even further.”
Wacalie says his own experience with the national team showed him how close the nation is to getting their break and qualifying for their first FIFA tournament but reiterates that it’s something the players have to want.
“We need to have the ambition to qualify for a world cup. We need to have the drive to work hard and achieve this, and we need to know what to do to get there.
“When we come as close as we have, within a match of qualifying, it’s a wake-up call. A former player like myself has to communicate exactly what that means to our young players.”
While it’s not out of reach, he says there is still work to be done.
“We need to follow the results of New Zealand, of Fiji at the U-20 World Cup or Tahiti coming runners-up at the Beach Soccer World Cup. We need to take the examples of the work being done by neighbours, see what they’re doing right and follow the same path.”
For more on New Caledonia football visit www.fedcalfoot.com

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