It was in 1995 when the small dusty gold mining town of Tavua erupted into wild celebrations after its soccer heroes hoisted the Lloyd Farebrother cup for the first time in the history of the IDC, now, thirteen years later Tavua is using that memorable win to inspire its gladiators to repeat that feat.

Considered as “Giant Killers” the Tavua outfit is often feared by the bigger and popular districts as Tavua has a long history of upsetting and sending the big guns packing out of the tournament.

Tavua soccer coach Lambert Sarju who already has tasted IDC victory while coaching the victorious Lautoka team in 2005 believes his mixture of youth and experienced players will raise a lot of eyebrows in the tournament and be out to finish in the top four come Sunday.

“We have a very good side which has prepared well for the past two weeks and are pretty confident of our chances in the tournament, said Sarju.

“We are always tagged as minnows and this is something we take into stride and try to prove critics wrong by giving an entertaining performance and sending the bigger and highly fancied teams’ home.

“Tavua is grouped in a tough pool with teams like Ba, Lautoka and Navua and we will take one match at a time and will be all out for victory in all the pool matches that we play.

“The current squad has the ability of bringing back the glory of 1995 provided that we play our cards right and remain focused on winning the tournament” added a confident Sarju.

Veteran Viliame Batidegei who lifted the cup at Churchill Park after outclassing Nadi 2-0 in the epic final is part of the current squad which also has experience in the likes of Manasa Tubuna, Sairusi Bokini, Josefa Nabaro, Solomoni Natau, goalkeepers Jone Turagarere and nippy Meli Codro.

Lone overseas based rep, left midfielder Vimlesh Naicker who plays his trade in New Zealand after migrating from Tavua a couple of years ago also adds depth to the squad and is deemed to be a sure starter for the boys in gold and black.

The Farmers supermarket sponsored Tavua side takes on Nasinu in the second match of day one on Thursday.

The Tavua squad:
Jone Turagarere, Remueru Tekiata, Semi Vakatalai, Vimlesh Naicker, Meli Codro, Avinesh Goundar, Ilimotama Jese, Sachin Krishna, Viliame Batidegei, Praneet Singh, Sairusi Bokini, Esava Natasiwai, Kushal Pillay, Thomas Halstead, Manasa Tubuna, Josefa Nabaro, Ernest Petueli, Vilikesa Tuimoro, Kamal Naidu, Savenaca Nasara Jnr, Netani Vuase, Varinava Lotu.

Fijilive

Back to Home

Print