Coach highlights preparations

By PATRICIA KEAMO
PAPUA New Guinea’s Under-16 head coach Marty Terry says having active aged group competitions across the country is key to improving PNG’s performance in the OFC youth competitions.
Terry said a lot of factors have hindered the team’s recent campaign in the OFC U16 Qualifying Championship in Tonga that resulted in the performance of the team, suffering heavy losses.
He told The National yesterday that a collective effort from PNG Football Association with its affiliated members as well as the government would be key to improvement.
The recent performance of the PNG U16 team has been riddled with much backlash with concerns raised on contributing factors including lack of preparation and a wider selection pool from across the country.
PNG were thrashed 0-14 by Solomon Islands in the tournament opener before making a comeback with a 3-0 win in the second game which showed hope for their last fixture.
Unfortunately, they fell to hosts Tonga in a 0-7 defeat to end their campaign.
“It doesn’t matter if we prepare well or given ample time because everyone needs to know that if you have good technical sound players who can buy into the way you want to play and win, it’s easier so we got to be smart about this,” Terry said when asked if the result was due to lack of preparation.
“In the process (of selection and travelling) we had many hindrances such as passport and NID issues not completed on time that limit our chances on qualifying.
“The Government must also assist in easing these process so we can have those documents on time.”
Terry said the length of preparation time was not a factor as teams have proven to deliver results with less preparation time while others have prepared well overtime and still lose.