Samuel Garcia: the leader of Tahiti National Team

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Samuel Garcia has a long history in football. The former midfielder represented Tahiti in 22 matches and scored two goals for his National Team. He also played four OFC Nations Cup editions and helped his nation to finish 2002 OFC Nations Cup in the third position.

After his retirement, Garcia remained involved with football and now he is one of the most important head coaches in Oceania. He is the current head coach of Tahiti National Football Team and AS Vénus – one of the strongest team from his homeland.

His first big challenge as a coach was five years ago when he managed AS Pirae in 2014-15 OFC Champions League. Garcia’s side did not have a good performance and they were eliminated in the group stage. Later on he was appointed to coach AS Vénus – a team that he knows very well as he played there for many years.

Since then he is building a very successful career leading Vénus by winning Coupe de Polynésie and Ligue 1 VINI – the top-tier of Tahitian football – once each. However his major accomplishment with the team happened this year when they qualifyed to 2020 OFC Champions League knockout stage. Garcia expressed his satisfaction – “We have reached our qualification goal. Auckland City was logically the favourite team in our group by the level of its championship, but we can not be ashamed of our 1-0 defeat against them,” he said.

It is important to remember that 2020 OFC Champions League quarter-finals were scheduled to be played in April but it was postponed due to COVID-19 pandemics. Despite having all eight qualified teams decided, the quarter-finals matches were not drawn yet but Garcia shows optimism – “We have qualified for the quarter-finals and now the objective is advancing to semi-finals even if we have to play outside,” he stated.

After winning 2018-19 Ligue 1 VINI, Garcia had his first challenge as Tahiti’s head coach – the 2019 Pacific Games. Tahiti won three out of five matches but it was not enough as they finished the Group B in the third position behind New Caledonia and Fiji.

Tahiti is one of the strongest National Teams in Oceania and the only nation except New Zealand and Australia to win the OFC Nations Cup in 2012. It was surely the biggest moment of Tahitian football and you can read more about it by clicking here. This unprecedented title was a major accomplishment and it helped to boost the football in the French Polynesia – “Financially it must have helped Fédération Tahitienne de Football (FTF) and football in general. Our football needs a big game to progress which is not always easy because we are far away. In addition to progress, it will bring people back to our stadiums. We saw it during the last As Vénus vs Auckland City in Mahina,” said Garcia.

The 45-year-old head coach recently released a 30-men list as Tahiti National Team provisional squad and you can check this list clicking here. The To’a Aito (Tahiti National Team’s nickname) started training this week as part of their preparation for 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Some known players like talented goalkeeper Moana Pito and 2019-20 Ligue 1 VINI top scorer Sandro Tau are not in this list due to work commitments – “They are not in the list because they decided to put priority on their professional careers. This is a respectable reason because Tahitian football is amateur,” explained Garcia.

This list count on some regular starters like AS Vénus forward Teaonui Tehau and midfielder Stanley Atani while some players are in the list for the first time like Yann Pennequin-Le Bras and Abdel Kader Lazreg who were born in France. Tahiti also count on a golden generation that played FIFA U-20 World Cup last year and some of tem are highly rated by Garcia – “We have some young players who are already at a very good level like Ari Labaste, Eddy Kaspard, Tehotu Gitton, Terai Bremond and Tevaitini Teumere,” he pointed.

As Tahiti is a French territory (part of French Polynesia), FTF holds a partnership with FFF – the French Football Federation – “FFF help in some areas like youth development, the training of educators and the support of club infrastructures. It also allows one Tahitian club to qualify for French Cup each season,” said Garcia.

Every year a football club from Tahiti qualifies for the seventh round of French Cup and AS Vénus was the last club from French Polynesia to play this tournament. They received Racing Besançon from the fifth-tier of French football at Stade Pater in Pirae last year but unfortunately they lost to the French side by 4-1.

As 2019-20 football season was cancelled in and there is no scheduled date for 2020 OFC Champions League resumption, Garcia is having plenty of time to dedicate his time to prepare the National Team. With a strong squad, the head coach will have the opportunity to eternalize his name in the history of Tahitian football.