Fiji coach marvels at football talent

 By GABRIEL LAHOC

FIJI soccer coach Juan Carlos Buzzetti believes that there is so much talent in Pacific Island countries which should be nurtured by development programmes and consistent coaching.

Buzzetti has been involved with soccer in the Oceania region for 30 years in different countries and in various capacities.

He welcomed the establishment of the junior development programme and soccer academies in some island countries.

“It’s great there is so much talent. Now everybody has their FIFA academies like PNG, Fiji, Vanuatu,” he said. “We have development centres so now you can start working from an early age so that by the time they reach under-17 or under-20s levels, they will have a better knowledge of the game, a better knowledge of the structures, the tactics and the systems.”

He said coaching in New Zealand or Australia was a lot easier as the players came through the different age divisions starting.

“It’s still a struggle sometimes to understand when your coach comes in with a haven of knowledge and he tries to pass on his information. 

“All the island countries are the same,” he said

“I know every island nation is different. When you come into a country, you have to understand customs and cultures and you need to respect them very much because it’s in their roots.

“This is a different world altogether, different kind of players, different attitude, different commitment, different professional organisation, everybody has to be the same if want to achieve success but we need to be patient the people sometimes they want too much but they are not ready.”    

This is Buzzetti’s fourth year as the national coach for Fiji after seven years as Vanuatu coach 

“I see their talent is incredible that we have, we have to keep developing and developing and be consistent, if you bring a coach today and then bring in another coach in three months or six months you won’t have consistency,” he said.

“Consistency takes time to develop, consistency means quite a few years and if you know your coach you bring in who can do the job,” he said.

He said from PNG’s 7.5 million people, there is a lot of raw talent to be identified and developed compared to 850,000 in Fiji and 230,000 in Vanuatu.

“But everybody is developing gradually and who knows maybe one of the islands will qualify for the Olympics.”