Tactical change proved worthy for Fiji’s Bula Boys

Listen to this article:

Fiji’s Samuela Drudru looks for support as he goes on attack against Mauritius during the International Friendly Match at Churchill Park in Lautoka. Picture: REINAL CHAND

A tactical change at half-time paid dividend for the Vodafone Fiji football boys as the side defeated Mauritius 1-0 at Churchill Park in Lautoka yesterday to make a clean sweep in the Three Nations FIFA international friendly.

The Christophe Gamel coached ‘Bula Boys’ remained unbeaten in the series after downing New Caledonia 3-0 at the ANZ Stadium in Suva last Monday.

Fiji made a good start against Mauritius with Wellington Phoenix striker Roy Krishna making presence felt early after his powerful low free kick was tapped away by a diving Mauritius goalkeeper James Caserne.

Rusiate Matarerega failed to click upfront prompting Gamel to make a crucial change at half time.

Gamel pulled off Matarerega and sent in Malakai Rakula who delivered the perfect pass for Krishna to tap in the lone goal in the 59th minute.

The national coach said the tactical change proved to be positive.

“First I pushed up Drudru (Samuela) because he was not functioning well on the flank,” Gamel said.

“I put him up so he could give more trouble to the opposition defenders. Rakula with his quality of passing and ability to dribble to create more space, I think it was the solution today.”

Mauritius, which ranks 13 places ahead of Fiji, failed to live up to the hype after their 3-1 victory against New Caledonia.

Fiji wore black armbands during the match in tribute to the Christchurch shooting victims and former Nadi rep and national captain Inosi Tora who passed away last week.

Gamel said there was a lot of intensity in the game and his boys responded very well.

“We can always do better but I’m proud of the result,” he said.

“It is amazing what they have done. Beating New Caledonia and Mauritius is no easy feat. It is a positive sign to win consecutive matches.”

The national players return to their respective districts for the resumption of the Vodafone Premier League games this weekend.

Gamel said the next move for the national team would be to travel abroad.

“We have been invited to Vanuatu for another tournament. I would like to try to travel a bit to Europe. Estonia has invited us. We need to find a way to do that trip.”

Array
(
    [post_type] => post
    [post_status] => publish
    [orderby] => date
    [order] => DESC
    [update_post_term_cache] => 
    [update_post_meta_cache] => 
    [cache_results] => 
    [category__in] => 1
    [posts_per_page] => 4
    [offset] => 0
    [no_found_rows] => 1
    [date_query] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [after] => Array
                        (
                            [year] => 2023
                            [month] => 12
                            [day] => 19
                        )

                    [inclusive] => 1
                )

        )

)