Spokeyjack happy with Vanuatu national team performance after natural disasters affected the country

Vanuatu has still one more match to be played at Churchill Park, in Lautoka. The team coached by Etienne Mermer is set to play against Fiji U-20 side in the Tri-Nations invitational friendly. The first match saw Vanuatu win Fiji national team by 2-1 and in their second game a 2-0 defeat against Solomon Islands.

Oceania Football Center talked to Jonathan Spokeyjack, one of the standout players of Ifira Black Bird that was called up once again to the national team. The winger was in the scoresheet against Fiji in their 2-1 win in the debut in the invitational tournament: “Overall it is being good, we faced two cyclones and an earthequake, and we have only two-day preparation before we travel to Fiji“, said Spokeyjack – “It was really bad, but somehow we stand to represent our federation (VFF)“, said the player when asked if the disasters had affected heavily the national team players. “We came to Fiji not to talk about cyclones, but we wanna show the we still have good quality football” explained the 24-year-old player.

“We still want to get back our style of play that we had in the past and we are working on to have it back before the SPG in Solomon Islands this year“, mentioned the Ifira Black Bird star, that shows the aim of Vanuatu national team to make a real impact in the upcoming Pacific Games in Honiara. “We are going to improve step by step, working with our coach and assistant coach. The more you work hard, the best our team will get” said emphatically Spokeyjack.

Vanuatu has certainly much to work before their duties at the end of the year on Pacific Games, the Tri-Nations is a good opportunity for the players to get a much needed international exposure. As mentioned by Spokeyjack, the team can be proud of their efforts after being hit by natural disasters; resillience is something used to the Pacific Islanders and in football that is not different.