After peforming well in a 2-1 loss to the tourists on Thursday, Juan Carlos Buzzetti’s men clearly had a belief they could topple the talented South Americans and Krishna’s strike proved enough to do just that on Saturday night at Govind Park in Ba.
Play Fair Brazil again fielded a strong side packed full of former stars and up-and-coming professionals while Buzzetti made few changes to his line-up, bringing in goalkeeper Ratu Jone Gasaubalavu for the youthful Akuila Mateisuva and, somewhat surprisingly, omitting Thursday’s goalscorer Valerio Nawatu to make room for Papua New Guinea-based Maciu Dunadamu.
The promotion of Gasaubalavu had a major impact on the outcome as the Ba stopper pulled off a string of fine saves to deny the Brazilians and receive the man of the match award.
Waitakere United star Krishna meanwhile was as dangerous as ever and notched what turned out to be the match winner in the 31st minute, making no mistake after being played in by Ilimotama Jese.
The second spell was dominated by Play Fair Brazil as the visitors looked to get back into the game and keep their hopes of winning the series alive but the Fiji rearguard were in fine form and kept out all that was thrown at them.
Fiji also enjoyed the backing of a rowdy Govind Park crowd and that appeared to give them added motivation as they held on for a famous victory.
National team director Tarunesh Reddy was delighted with the result and believes it will be a big boost to the development of football in the country.
“It was a very tough match but the boys stood up to the test and proved they have a lot of pride in the national side,” he said.
“This is a very positive result for us as prepare for our next World Cup play-offs. We will look back at this day in the future and can say we were able to beat a good side like Play Fair Brazil.”
Play Fair Brazil coach Marcos Cesar Vizolli said the result was not of particular significance and that his side’s aim was to showcase a high standard of football to the people of Fiji.
“We have posted a win and and a loss but that is not important – the main thing is that the fans here have seen a high level football game,” he said.
“I must congratulate the Fiji side for a great match. We felt like we were playing against Uruguay. The Fiji team is very young and if they keep playing together they could have a bright future,” he continued.
“These players could get attachments with clubs in Brazil. They knew it was one of the matches of their lives today and it was a unique opportunity to play with their hearts.
“After they scored the goal they focused on defending and we tried hard to break them down but could not do that.”
For more on Fiji football go to www.fijifootball.com.fj

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