Solomon Bilikiki settling into Samba land ahead of tomorrows encounter with Cameroon

The Solomon Islands Bilikiki Beach soccer boys are slowly settling in the Samaba land in Brazil, ahead of an anticipated David vs Goliath encounter with Cameroon in the fourth match of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup tomorrow.

After almost 48 hours of travel from the Solomon Islands to reach Rio de Janeiro, they are now finding that the golden sands of the Copacabana are to their liking. A 12 minutes friendly on Tuesday evening last week with a local side ended in a 3-3 draw and according to coach Viv Wickham it gave the Solomons a taste of what to expect from countries that have been playing beach soccer for some time.

The team profiles showed that Cameroon is the current crowned African champions in September, after beating prominent teams such as Morocco, Nigeria, and Egypt. The Solomon Islands, on the other hand, have been known affectionately as the ‘Brazil of the South Pacific’. Now they have have the opportunity to live up to that impressive tag at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup on Rio de Janeiro’s legendary Copacabana Beach. Famed throughout Oceania for their natural skill and flair, this is nevertheless the first time that Bilikiki will be able to showcase their talents on the world stage, and though few will expect them to go the distance, they will travel confident of springing a surprise or two. It is expected that the Solomon Bilikiki team will enter the match as an underdog as they may be the least experienced team in the prestigious tournament.

Despite not being able to play friendly matches with the Brazil team due to communication breakdown, the Bilikiki coaches are adamant that the boys will put on their best performance tomorrow as they have familiarized themselves with the sand and the climate. The boys are training hard twice a day.