Sport: Brazil tour boosts Kurukuru's World Cup prep

2:29 pm on 9 September 2016

A three-week stint in Brazil has been a difficult but welcome challenge for the Solomon Islands futsal team in their countdown to the World Cup.

The Kurukuru played three games against local club teams, two against Mozambique and were thrashed 18-0 by Brazil in their final match earlier this week.

They also played international matches earlier this year against Australia.

Solomon Islands futsal coach Juliano Schmeling.

Solomon Islands futsal coach Juliano Schmeling. Photo: OFC Media

Coach Juliano Schmeling said despite failing to register a win, every match was important.

"I knew about the difficulty to play against national teams or clubs when you have the reality in Solomons but the idea was to play closed and friendly matches until the World Cup because I knew the friendly games could make a lot of difference for us in the World Cup," he said.

"It was a big lesson for us to play against the best team in the world and definitely the players enjoyed to play in (that match) and we have a lot of things to learn from the game (against Brazil)."

The Oceania futsal champions have since arrived in Colombia and open their World Cup campaign against CONCACAF winners Costa Rica next week, before facing Argentina and Kazakhstan.

Solomon Islands captain Elliot Ragomo celebrates one of his two goals.

Solomon Islands captain Elliot Ragomo celebrates a goal during the OFC Champs. Photo: OFC Media