One game at a time. That is the focus of the Samoa U19 men’s football team as they hope to grab one of the two World Cup spots.

The hosts have the home crowd backing and some players were part of the senior men’s team in the Nations played in the

Coach Valerio Raccuglia said their first goal is to win their first game against Papua New Guinea this Saturday.

“That’s the goal that we set up for ourselves but I think it’s important to win the first game that will set the tone for our tournament. After our first game, we will reset and we will see where we are at and work on it. But yes, it is definitely our main goal,” he said.

Their preparations started a week ago with the local boys and overseas players who arrived in Samoa earlier. The last player arrived last Friday.

“I think we finally got the team together like all of them last Friday. But the preparations have been good, we’ve been training hard and preparing for the first game. And hopefully, we can perform on Saturday against Papua New Guinea.”

Team selection did not come easy. The coach had to leave out a few overseas players but he believes he has selected his best team for the opener.

“We pick the best ones from here and the best from overseas. We left some overseas players out as well. We got the best ones that fit our style of football. We have a good mix of locals and overseas players,” said Raccuglia.

“We have players with experience at the national level, players who played for the U16, and some of them have represented Samoa in the U19 before. So they all understand the expectations of this tournament.”

He said he spent 10 days in Samoa with the local players and then travelled overseas for his team selection.

“I was talking to other coaches and they told me about their style of play and a lot of watching videos for these players contributed as well. Now, we have a fair amount of idea on how to create competition for positions on the field,” he said.

Raccuglia urged fans to come and watch the young boys take on Papua New Guinea and give them extra assistance from off the field.

“We are hoping to fill up the stands on Saturday. It will be really good to see our people out here to support the boys on Saturday. Hopefully, we can make everyone proud.”

The OFC U19 Men’s Championship starts this Friday and finishes on 18 July. There are eight teams divided into two pools. The two finalists will qualify for the U19 World Cup.

Fiji, Tahiti, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu are in Pool A. Samoa, New Zealand, New Caledonia and PNG are in Pool B.

Samoa will take on PNG at 3 pm on Saturday at the Tuanaimato Football Fields.