Futsal Whites have FIFA World Cup in their sights

The New Zealand men are two from two at the Oceania Futsal Nations Cup in Takanini. (Source: 1News)

The Futsal Whites have never qualified for a World Cup before, while the Solomon Islands have four times.

Last night's 7-2 win over Fiji at Pulman Arena gave the Kiwis plenty of confidence.

"We're really focused," captain Dylan Manickum said.

"Obviously we've been working hard over the past couple of years, four years, eight years for some players to qualify for the World Cup."

The convincing win over Fiji was memorable for Manickum, overtaking coach Marvin Eakins as New Zealand's most capped futsal player, running out for his 60th appearance.

"It just means you've been in the team consistently over 10, 12 years and it's just a nice achievement."

Qualifying for the FIFA Futsal World Cup in Uzbekistan next year wouldn't just be an achievement for the current group, but past players too. Someone who's regularly in their thoughts is goalkeeper Atta Elyaan who was tragically killed in the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks.

"He was a massive part of the team and he's one of the ones who always springs to mind before we play," Manickum said.

The Futsal Whites will be giving it their best shot, with a semi final looming on Thursday. Although they don't play for money, coach Marvin Eakins said winning the tournament would help the team financially.

"We're kind of used to working with a low budget and I think we'd be excited to have some resource behind us to help prepare. I guess if we qualify and do the job we want to actually go there and not just turn up, we're actually going there to win some games."

The Futsal Whites' final group match is against Tonga at 4pm tomorrow.

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