THE FIFA CONFEDERATIONS CUP:TEAM BY TEAM ANALYSIS

GROUP B
TAHITI
     Honestly,before i saw the groupings for this Confederations cup,i had never heard of a nation called Tahiti.Intially i thought it was Haiti wrongly spelt ,but then i realised Haiti technically belonged to North America and they already had Mexico.So i had to do a lot of research on them to find out about them and what to write about them.This is the hardest article i have to write in this Confed Cup series.It took a lot from me.Enough said now to the main business.Tahiti became the first team other than Australia and New Zealand to win the OFC Nations cup.They did so with a 1-0 win over New Caledonia,in a match they were expected to lose as New Caledonia had already beaten tournament favourites New zealand 2-0 in another suprising result.This although is not the first time Team Fenua have qualified for a FIFA tournament.They qualified for the 2009 FIFA u-20 world cup in Egypt were they met Nigeria,Spain and Venezuela.They lost those games 5-0,8-0,8-0 respectively.The coach of Tahiti a former player of the National team Eddy Etaeta knows that they won't win the tournament and possibly may not pick up a point too in the tournament but he is just proud that they are going to Brazil "The people of Tahiti will be happy that we are going to play against Spain and Brazil,it is amazing and we shall enjoy these moments".They are currently ranked 135th in the world. They will not have the opportunity to particpate in Brazil next year as they have failed to qualify for the world cup,so this is there world cup.They played a 4-4-2 system in the final of the OFC Nations cup Final,but in all honestly i expect them to play a10-0-0 formation in this tournament,trying to play on the counter.Players to watch for the Islanders would be primarily 2 players.1st of all,we look at the man who actually brought them to Brazil,Steevy Chong Hue,he scored the winner in the OFC Nations cup final,the winger has scored 11 goals in 22 appearances for his country.He is the 2nd player in the squad that has played outside the country,with spells in the Belgian 2nd division.The second player to look out for and the most experienced is Marama Vahirua.The striker,yet to be capped,has played for Nancy,Liorent,Nantes and Nice.He is now plying his trade in the Greek top division for Panthrakikos.The hopes,although very little of a nation rest chiefly on these two






Tahitians are not hoping for anything big,they are going to Brazil to have fun and enjoy the moment.Any goal scored will be celebrated like they won the World Cup.A 1-0 or 2-0 defeat would be awesome.To say a defeat would be awesome tells you how much an underdog they are.They are without doubt the biggest underdogs in the tournaments history.They may have just 1 professional footballer in there entire squad with the rest,teachers,fishermen,salesmen,but one thing i do know, is that Tahiti have spirit and with this spirit  plus happiness and excitement that they are in a major tournament,i'm expecting them to give the other teams a real good run for their money.So Spain,Nigeria,Uruguay watchout...Tahiti will be no pushovers



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