Cooks women in OFC Nations Cup

The Cook Islands national women’s soccer squad left for Auckland yesterday to compete in the OFC Women’s Nations Cup.

The tournament kicks off on September 29 at the North Harbour Stadium and will conclude in a final on October 8 to see who will win through to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany 2011.

The Cook Islands national squad has been preparing since July with tactical games and endurance and fitness training before heading to Auckland. The Aitutaki based players joined the Rarotonga based players on Monday and went straight into game mode against the CIFA Academy Boys as part of the preparations.

They will join the New Zealand based players upon arrival in Auckland where they will head to their accommodation for the week long tournament. There is no rest for the women’s squad as they have been scheduled to play a friendly match against the Three Kings United Women’s team on Sunday (NZT).

Cook Islands will meet Tahiti in their opening match and look forward to the challenge. They will meet defending champions New Zealand in their second match and will face Vanuatu in the third match. The top two teams in each group will then progress to the semi finals.