Kapuls to play trial match against U23 youth team

Sports

By PATRICIA KEAMO
THE men’s national football train-on-squad will be playing a friendly match tomorrow against an Under-23 youth team at the Papua New Guinea Football Stadium in Port Moresby.
The 30-man Kapuls squad assembled for their extended camp last week and kicked off their training on Friday under head coach Marcos Gusmao.
The Brazilian told The National yesterday that the squad’s training was progressing well with specific training and conditioning and he was looking forward to see the squad play after training with him for a week.
“We have entered the phase of specific training, conditioning the players and working on our game model,” Gusmao said.
“In the tactical part, the evolution is huge.
“The players are already positioning themselves well and reading the game better.
“Saturday (tomorrow) we will play our first friendly preparatory match for the team to gain intensity of play.
“We will finalise the playing lineup (today) after discussions with the managers.”
The Kapuls squad have approximately six weeks left to prepare for the regional Fifa World Cup qualifiers on March 13-30 in Qatar.
Gusmao told The National earlier that the Kapuls would have several trial matches this month before the squad was trimmed down to 23 or 25 by the end of next month.
Meanwhile, the Oceania Football Confederation has confirmed the qualifiers fixtures this week with the group matches to kick off on March 17.
The Kapuls will play their opening match against New Zealand on March 18 followed by New Caledonia on March 21 and Fiji on March 24.