The President of the Fiji Football Association, Rajesh Patel, says the national team proved their doubters wrong with a competitive showing against Wellington Phoenix at the weekend.
The Fiji senior team were beaten 2-1 in Suva in the first of two matches between the teams, with striker Roy Krishna opening the scoring for the home side against his club.
The National Under 23 side also beat the Phoenix Premiers side 3-2 in the curtain raiser and Rajesh Patel says the results showed Fiji can compete.
"We also proved to the critics a lot of them wrong that Wellington Phoenix will run over Fiji national side but, no, it didn't happen. Our Under 23s were equally good and this is a good opportunity for us to go to the Pacific Games and see that, yes, we are equally competitive [against New Zealand]. This gave us a great opportunity and come Tuesday I think the Wellington Phoenix will be surprised by the results of the national team. The boys got it together in a short space of time - they kept on playing football but it was very good".
The teams will square off again in Ba tomorrow.