Tahiti’s beach soccer national team the Tiki Toa are winging their way to Dubai for the annual Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup with some new faces appearing in the squad.
Among the changes, former captain and Tiki Toa stalwart Naea Bennett has taken up the reins as coach with Teva Zaveroni and Swiss coach and FIFA Instructor Angelo Schirinzi alongside him.
The squad of ten then features four new faces – AS Dragon captain Tematoa Tetauira, Gervais Chan Kat, Heirauarii Salem and goalkeeper Teva Durot are all set to receive their first caps as Tiki Toa.
The first three, Tetauira, Chan Kat and Salem, are all under 23 years old and were part of the group of players which spent three months in Europe playing for Beach Team 3 Frontieres and with Swiss club side SBC Lions Riviera
Durot meanwhile has been capped as a futsal international with the Airo Arii.
Tahiti have attended four previous editions of this competition, with their best result a silver medal in 2015 after losing the final to Russia.
The eight participating teams for this year’s edition have been divided into two groups with the Tiki Toa drawn in Group B alongside Russia, Iran and the US. The Tahitians will prepare for the competition with matches against Oman and Japan on the 2 and 3 of November.
Further information about the competition can be found on Beach Soccer Worldwide.
