by Desney Romeo
BAKU— The Surinamese U15 football selection is successful in the final phase of The Fifa U-15 World Cup & Festival. After the first win against Brunei on Wednesday, a double victory followed on Thursday (today) with victories over Saint Lucia (3-2) and the Solomon Islands (4-1). “Not dissatisfied with anything today, even though it could be much better,” national coach Orfeo Brondenstein responded the True Time.
He is mainly focusing on Friday’s match. “Tomorrow we have the final against Barbados and we have to do sublimely there to end the tournament well,” he says. “Barbados will not be easy tomorrow. It is a physically strong team.”
“Tomorrow we have the final against Barbados and we have to do sublimely there to end the tournament well”
National coach Orfeo Brondenstein
Bottleneck completion
In the first meeting on Thursday morning, Suriname faced “an old acquaintance of ours”, as Brondenstein called Saint Lucia. It was a narrow 3-2 win thanks to goals from Dencio Pikientio, Prefor Amoko and Idestino Bodjie. The second match was against the Solomon Islands. The final score was 4-1, after Jismaël Sallons (twice), Jermezio Forster and Kenneth Saiman found the net.
Brondenstein: “Saint Lucia is no stranger to me. We played against them with the U14 selection and won 7-1. So I told my boys that they will come to take revenge, but we just have to play our game, as agreed. They are also not strong in transition, so we have to hurt them there.”
The national coach believes that Suriname controlled the match against the islanders. “But as in previous matches, the finishing left much to be desired, so the win was not greater. We were not actually in danger at any time. They scored their second goal at the end of the match.”
Sagging
Solomon Islands had a few fast guys, but physically they were not that strong, says Brondenstein. “They tried to put pressure on in the beginning, but they couldn’t keep it up.” The game pattern was identical, especially in terms of wasted opportunities. “We are 2-0 up, then you start to slacken and they score a goal shortly before half time, which makes things exciting again.”
At halftime, the national coach said he had indicated to his players that the match should actually have been decided in the first half. “I told them that they had to play football more seriously after half-time, because if that doesn’t happen they run the risk of the opponent equalizing and then we have to go to the penalties, where there is a chance of losing. In the end we score two goals in the second half and the game was over.”
