The 10th annual Festival des Iles will kick off in Papeete this week with three international friendly futsal matches between Tahiti and New Caledonia taking the spotlight among a week of all manner of football disciplines.
The two nations recently met in two friendly football matches, which finished in the home side’s favour after they took a 4-3 victory in the second encounter.
This week’s three match futsal series will provide an excellent opportunity for New Caledonia to win back some national pride with coach William Bret also hoping to make a good start to his side’s preparations for the next OFC Futsal Championship.
“We’ve got a full team, even if we’ve had to take into account the professional unavailability of some players,” Bret said.
“We have some new players in the group, but they’re players which we know quite well and who are on board with our project for the national team.
Timothe Delaunay from Olympique, or Azer Xuma from UNC, are among those set to make their debut, and Bret believes they will bring an additional technical element to the team.
“This is very much a week of preparation, with some important sessions to take place between the match days,” Bret outlined.
Fifteen players have travelled to Tahiti for the week, with matches to be played on the 2, 4 and 6 April at Salle Louis Babo Aitamai, Fautaua all kicking off at 8pm (local).
All the matches will be live streamed by TNTV