Transcript
JULIANO SCHMELING: I knew about the difficulty to play against national teams or clubs when you have the reality in Solomons. I knew the friendly games could make a lot of difference for us in the World Cup. It was very positive. We played against Australia (earlier this year), we played against some clubs here in Brazil, we played against Mozambique last week and it was very positive and for me yesterday, last night, was different - I knew playing against Brazil was a big challenge - but 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 last night.
VINNIE WYLIE: And you've got less than a week now until the start of the World Cup - your first match against Costa Rica, you've then got matches against Argentina and Kazakhstan after that. How are you feeling about your expectations going into that tournament?
JS: Definitely the friendly games we did will help us and against Costa Rica will be a big decision for us. The first game always is tough and to play against the champions from CONCACAF will be a big challenge. Then the second match against Argentina - probably the second best team here in South America...they have only one player from Argentina because the rest of the team every single is playing in Europe, in professional clubs, so we know the challenge will be very high. And the third against Kazakhstan: we know they have three Brazilian players, their manager is Brazilian - they have a project working together for the last three years and they did very well in UEFA competition so we know it will be a big challenge as well. For us it's three finals - we want to go to the World Cup and represent Solomon very well, represent OFC very well but definitely we will be ready for the three challenges for us in the World Cup.
VW: Is there a target like win one game? I know the team has done that previously at World Cups - manage to get a win. Do you want to try and match that or do you not set yourself a target?
JS: I think when you go the competition definitely we want to win, definitely we are expected to have three points. We know the reality of Argentina, Kazakhstan - we know the challenge will be much higher than Costa Rica - so I think we have a chance in the first game against Costa Rica, probably a chance to maybe have three points.
