The current leader of the Telekom S-league (TSL), Western United FC is undergoing serious training in preparation for the resumption of the TSL competition.
On Wednesday the team, under the watchful eye of head coach Commins Menapi continues their fitness drills, ball passing and small sided games at Ports Authority sport field.
The team which comprised mostly of national players is look promising to win the league and possibly booked their ticket to the O-League championship.
Adding more strength to the team are the service of former Amical defender Nelson Sale and striker Jack Whitney as well Joses Nawo from Tafea FC of Vanuatu.
Not only that but locally they also recruits the service of former Solomon Warriors players Gagame Feni, Karol Kakate, Jeffrey Bule and Molis Gagame.
United is the first of nine participating clubs who have resumed early trainings after the festive season break.
They only had less than 10 days off during the festive season and continued trainings since then as they eye to take out this season’s title.
They are currently leading the race to determine which club will represent the country in the upcoming Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Club Championship in April.
At this stage they are sitting at the top of the TSL tally table with 31 points.
Coach Menapi earlier said, his team’s priority is to secure a place in next year’s Oceania champions League.
In a recent interview, Menapi said taking the team from day one was a challenge.
But now things changed a lot.
“We have improved a lot as a team.
“The players started to understand each other much better than when they started,” he said.
The former international gave credits to all the players for their commitment and discipline.
The commitment and discipline can be seen during their training session, Wednesday.
Fitness trainer, Fa’amoana Topue also shared similar sentiments adding that the players have improved a lot and are reaching new level of fitness and discipline.
“They have improved a lot I would say one can see the difference I’m talking about when United plays its opening match for this year against Malaita Kingz FC,” Topue said.
Equipped with some of the renowned soccer players in the country, United is now the favourite of winning the season’s title and they are just a step away from lifting the TSL winning trophy for the first time.
By CARLOS ARUAFU