Coach Martin Bullock shrugs off favourite tag at OFC U-16 Men’s Championship

New Zealand head coach Martin Bullock isn’t comfortable with his side being tagged favourites to win the OFC U-16 Men’s Championship, which gets underway in Tahiti on Monday.

“I don’t know if we are favourites,” he said at a media briefing ahead of the eight-nation tournament.

“We’ve potentially got more resources and a bigger player pool than the other countries.

“We are probably labelled favourites based on history. I don’t think anything’s won based on history.

“This is a new group of players, like everyone else has got. So, we’ll see over the first couple of group games; we’ll see where we sit alongside everyone else.”

The two finalists at the tournament, and the third-placed nation, will qualify for next year’s FIFA U-17 Men’s World Cup in Qatar, the first time OFC has had three representatives at a FIFA competition.

Main photo: Team captains (from left), Yvrick Hmae,Kennedy Sihiu,George Aru, Alex Lienard, Tiahiti Colombani, Kingston Hansell, Maikah Dau, George Temata Rouru. Photo credit: OFC Media / DJ Mills / Phototek.

Vanuatu coach Emerson Alcantara believes the OFC U-16 Men’s Championship is the most important OFC tournament on the men’s competition calendar.

Alcantara, whose side plays New Zealand in the opening match of the tournament in Stade Fautaua in Papeete, highlighted the importance of using the competition to prepare the players to play at the highest level.

“The most important thing we can give the players is to play the international game for the first time,” he said.

“Of course, everyone wants to go to the World Cup, but the most important thing is we give confidence to these new young boys. I think it’s the most important tournament we have, to prepare the players for the senior team.”

The passionate Brazilian is thrilled to have a chance for Vanuatu to test themselves against New Zealand first up.

“New Zealand push us to get better every year and to develop players so that one day we can beat them.”

Alcantara turned to New Zealand coach Martin Bullock (at the pre-tournament media conference) and thanked him.

“Now I say, coach, don’t stop this because you push us; we train hard in our countries to get to the level of your country, thanks so much,” he told Bullock.

Fiji have often been described as the ‘sleeping giant’ of Oceania football. They have a strong development programme and coach Sunil Kumar has high hopes for his players.

“We have set our objective very clear from the first day with the staff and the players that we want to create history for Fiji. We want to be the first Fijian team to win the OFC Under-16 Championship,” Kumar said, ahead of Monday’s opening match against the Cook Islands.

“We want to show the Fijian flair and our identity of being fearless.”

New Caledonia coach Leo Lopez admitted it had been a difficult preparation for his side against the backdrop of the civil unrest in the country.

“With a difficult context to prepare for the tournament. But despite everything, thanks to the Federation and to the Government we were able to train,” he said.

“The parents of the players have made great sacrifices to be able to bring the young players to the training ground, and we try to do our best to represent the country.”

The Solomon Islands side may have been the last to arrive in Papeete, but they may also be the best prepared.

The same group of players won the OFC U-16 Men’s Qualifying tournament in Tonga in April.

“It’s a different competition altogether, and it’s a challenge for us that we’re going to give our best. And we expect some outcome from the competition to please our passionate fans back home,” coach Eddie Rukumana said.

The top two teams in each Group advance to the semi-finals with the two finalists and the winner of the third-place play-off booking their tickets to Qatar next year.

Acknowledgement

We are grateful for the help of OFC Media in providing information for this story.

New Zealand squad

Pedro Botica (Auckland United, New Zealand)
William Britton (Western Springs, New Zealand)
Luke Brooke-Smith (Hamilton Wanderers, New Zealand)
Hunter Cadman (Northern Rovers, New Zealand)
Justin Cardozo (Machado Sydney, Australia)
Aaron Cartwright (Melbourne City, Australia)
Joseph Chalabi (Christchurch United, New Zealand)
Ethan Dyer (Sydney, Australia)
Van Fitzharris (Tauranga City, New Zealand)
Joseph Kalume Banza (Western Sydney Wanderers, Australia)
Damion Kim (East Coast Bays, New Zealand)
Alexander Lienard (Sunderland, United Kingdom)
Nathan Martin (Fencibles United, New Zealand)
Joe Mcintyre (Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand)
Henry Murfitt (Selwyn United, New Zealand)
Daniel Nelson (Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand)
Benjamin Perez Baldoni (Ellerslie, New Zealand)
Jack Perniskie (Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand)
Connor Smith (FC Hennef 05, Germany)
Louis Spillane (Western Springs, New Zealand)
Rakshan Suresh (Western Suburbs, New Zealand)
Luka Vicelich (Auckland City, New Zealand)
Michael Wong (Auckland United, New Zealand)

The OFC U-16 Men’s Championship

The format of the tournament will consist of two round-robin groups, with the two top teams in the groups meeting in knockout semi-finals.

Fixtures

Game to be played on July 29, 2024 (NZT)

New Zealand v Vanuatu
Stade Pater, Papeete, Tahiti, 10am (NZT)

Game to be played on August 1, 2024 (NZT)

New Zealand v Fiji
Stade Pater, Papeete, Tahiti, 10am (NZT)

Game to be played on August 4, 2024 (NZT)

New Zealand v Cook Islands
Stade Pater, Papeete, Tahiti, 10am (NZT)

This story was first published on July 28, 2024.

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