NATIONAL men’s football coach, Felipe Vega Arango has hit back at critics following the team’s narrow 1-2 defeat to Caboolture SFC over the weekend.
Many critics took to the social media expressing their disappointment in what many described as a performance below par.
But Spanish Coach Felipe said most people do not understand that it is a friendly match.
The result does not matter too much but it is important to give all players some game time and help the coaching team to observe the team’s performance.
“I don’t care about social media; most people don’t know what is going on.
“If we had scored the chances of the first half we win the game.
“The team for the first half is new and really young; we are building a new team for the future.
“They never played together before.
“We all want to win, but sometimes we lose, that is sports.
“Most people don’t know what it takes to build and create a new team.
“And also the level of football in Australia is way bigger than in Solomon.
“People must be humble and work hard,” he said.
The friendly is part of the team’s preparation for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ OFC preliminary competition in Qatar next week.
Coach Felipe said the players are learning from their mistakes and hoped to make a difference in the final friendly match today.
“Players are doing well, we watched the game the next morning and for most it was the first time to do match analysis.
“They are learning from their mistakes and committed to work hard to get better,” Felipe added.
The final friendly match will be up against Lions FC today.
The national team is scheduled to continue their journey to Qatar for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ OFC preliminary competition on March 10th.
By CARLOS ARUAFU
Newsroom, Honiara