Cooks ready for Oceania challenge

The Cook Islands under 17 men’s soccer squad departed for Auckland on Tuesday evening to compete in the OFC Under 17 men’s tournament.

The tournament kicks off this weekend at the North Harbour Stadium and will conclude with the finals on January 19 to see who will go through to the FIFA Under 17 Men’s World Cup in Mexico in July 2011.

According to Coach Tuka Tisam, the Cook Islands team will have a tough challenge ahead of them.

“We know that the island teams that have been placed in our pool are strong and are looking to win games,” says Tisam.

The Cooks are in a very strong pool and will meet New Caledonia in their opening match next Tuesday (NZ time) and they look forward to the challenge.

They will meet Tahiti in their second match, Tonga in the third match before fronting up to the Solomon Islands in the fourth match.

The top team in each group will then progress to the finals.