Team Black have two more weeks of training

PORT Moresby-based Team Black, part of the national men’s football train-on squad, have two more weeks of training before the opening fixture of a best-of-three series in Lae next Saturday.
According to the Papua New Guinea Football Association (PNGFA), only 18 players are allowed to travel to Lae to play the opener as a curtain-raiser to the Women’s National Soccer League semifinals. Coach Erickson Komeng told The National yesterday that he had 26 players and would select his 18 men based on their performances during training.
“Selection will also be based on player attendance and understanding of play,” he said.
“Small things like combinations and hard work during training mean a lot because those are the things which coaches look out for.
“We will continue building as we look to achieve positive results over the series.”
Komeng, who is also the coach of Women’s National Soccer League club, Hekari, said he was hoping that his players would remain injury-free leading up to the opener.
“As a coach, I don’t have anything to comment on PNGFA’s decision to allow only 18 players,” he said. “It’s up to the players to work hard to make the cut.
“We’ve been training at the Bisini Soccer Ground since last week due to the (late Sir Michael Somare’s) national haus krai at Sir John Guise Stadium.
“It’s challenging for me to attend training sessions with my Hekari girls (for the WNSL semifinals) and the PNG squad at the same time.
“What I’ve been doing is preparing training programmes and sessions for my assistant Nathan Vincent to lead the training while I prepare Hekari for our semifinals.
“But the men’s squad are doing fine, they have been working hard and are in great shape.
“Although the series is new to us, we are looking forward to the first one in Lae and the other two before the final Kapuls squad is announced.”