The Australia Muslim soccer team, laced with former and current Fiji reps, is the favourite in the FANCA World Cup which starts in Sydney, Australia on Thursday.
The boys from the ‘Land Down Under’ aim to win the meet while playing hosts.
“There are some current and former Fiji district reps in our team. We should be able to beat other teams and come out on top. We will make sure that the trophy remains in Australia when the dust settles at the Marconi Oval on Sunday afternoon,” Team manager Abdul Khan said.
Australian-based Serbian players Ali Cem Akbal and Tolgay Ozbey, who featured for Lautoka and Nadroga respectively in the recent Fiji IDC in Ba, will be part of the team which also has the likes of Fiji Under-20 goalkeeper Wasim Ali, Rewa’s Shameer Ali and Ifraaz Ali, Navua’s Esala Ali, former Ba reps Arif Azam, Nimaam Ali and Nadi defender Inoke Boseilala.
The tournament will be played on a round robin basis with the two nations with the highest number of points meeting in the final.
Australia plays Fiji in its opening match at 8.20pm on the first day.
Fixtures: Thursday: 4pm- America vs Fiji (Veterans), 5.10 Australia vs Canada (Veterans),6.15 Official opening, 7pm New Zealand vs America, 8.20pm Fiji vs Australia.
Friday: 2.50pm- New Zealand vs Fiji (U21), 4.10pm- Australia vs America (Veterans), 5.20pm- Australia vs Canada (U21), 6.40pm- Fiji vs New Zealand (Veterans), 7.45pm- Canada vs America, 9pm- Australia vs New Zealand.
Saturday: Fiji vs Canada (U21), 9.50am- Australia vs New Zealand (Veterans), 11am- Australia vs New Zealand (U21), 12.20pm- New Zealand vs Canada, 1.40pm- Fiji vs America, New Zealand vs Canada (G2), 3pm- Australia vs Fiji (U21), Australia vs Fiji (Veterans)(G2), 4.20pm- New Zealand vs Canada (U21), Canada vs America (Veterans) (G2), 5.40pm- New Zealand vs Fiji, 7pm- Australia vs Canada.
Sunday: 8.30am- New Zealand vs America (Veterans), 9.40am- Fiji vs Canada (Veterans), 10.50am- Fiji vs Canada, 12.10pm- Australia vs America, 1.20pm- U15 games, 2.20pm- Veterans Final, 3.40pm- U21 final, 5pm- Grand Final, 7pm- Presentations.
Fijilive
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comments on this story
thehero
Wednesday, October 29 2008
Bullshit ... all Rewa and Ba Muslim reps from Sydney and yet they can't even win any Muslim competition in Sydney. None champions Sydney Stallions players in the team coz it's all politics ... and not all the players are Muslim. A notable exclusion is Nadroga rep in Fiji and NSW state rep Moshin Nabi.