Teva Zaveroni discusses Tahiti’s FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup heroics, his players’ struggle to get time off work and UAE 2024 target.

• Tahiti are two-time FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup runners-up
• Teva Zaveroni assesses their hopes of going one better at UAE 2024
• The coach discusses his players’ struggle to get time off from their jobs

There is more to Tahiti than stunning atolls, lush vegetation and the most pleasant of climates. The way of life in this corner of the world in French Polynesia, a 22-hour flight from Paris is pretty unique too, as Teva Zaveroni can vouch for. The coach of the island nation’s beach soccer team, Zaveroni begins his day at 4am, just like most of his fellow Tahitians. Here, it is the sun that dictates the rhythm of life, with Papeete’s Sunday market open from then until 10am, and Zaveroni ending his working day at 4pm at the latest. For his players, therefore, getting up for a 5am training session is no inconvenience at all. An employee at the French Polynesia Post and Telecommunications Office, Zaveroni is usually out of work by 3.30pm, giving him time to organise a second training session of the day at 5pm in Pirea, where the Tahitian Football Association has its training centre.

Maintaining the pace and juggling training, work and family life takes a lot of passion, a commodity Zaveroni and his players have shown plenty of over the years, making sacrifice after sacrifice to proudly represent Tahiti on the global beach soccer stage. Since 2011, when they made their FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup debut, the Tiki Toa have pulled off one exploit after another, reaching the semi-finals on home sand in 2013 and going one better to finish runners-up in 2015 and 2017. Two months out from the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup UAE 2024™, Zaveroni talks about his team’s preparations, their targets and his happiest memories from the tournament.

FIFA: 15 February is just around the corner. How are your preparations for the World Cup going?

Teva Zaveroni: We’re preparing hard. We decided to work here in Tahiti in November and December, and to focus on fitness. In January, we’re heading off to Brazil for three weeks, to Rio de Janeiro, which will be a whole new phase, with the emphasis on tactics and technique. With the new rule giving keepers only four seconds to restart play, we’ll have the chance to implement our new system and to make some late adjustments. We want to innovate, be dynamic with our movement, and develop our play, which is going to take a lot of work.

Why Brazil?

To play as many friendlies as we can and get into a rhythm for the World Cup. Two years without any competitions is a long time. Since the last World Cup, we’ve had qualifiers against Tonga, Solomon Islands and Fiji, and we played Lithuania at home. That’s not enough, not even close, and we need to take on other teams to see how good we are. The thing is, we’re in the middle of the Pacific, which doesn’t make things easy for us. It’s expensive for us to travel around with 15 people (12 players, a coach, a kit manager and a masseur), so we have to adjust. There have been times when we’ve had to travel with just 12, like the Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup in Dubai in 2016. I had to play and we massaged ourselves, but we still managed to reach the semis.

You’ve been handed a tough draw at UAE 2024, with Argentina, Spain and IR Iran in your group. What do you make of your opponents?

They’re all big beach soccer nations and we know it’s going to be difficult. Every team is strong at this level. They’ll all be ready, and it’s going to come down to the little details. We’re focusing first and foremost on our opening match, against Argentina. That’s our first objective, our priority, and picking up a win and making a good start to the World Cup will be vital.

At the 2015 World Cup, your goalkeeper Jonathan Torohia blew everyone away with his talent and won the adidas Golden Glove. He’ll be flying with you to Dubai. What’s his role in the group?

Jo is still our No1, but it’s definitely going to be his last World Cup. Like lots of the guys in the team, he’s still making sacrifices 10 years on. It’s not easy for us, what with work, training and families, and it’s not so much the body that gets tired but the head. It’s hard to put in the same kind of effort you did 10 years ago. But we said to ourselves we’re going to give it our best shot one last time and prepare the youngsters coming up behind us.

What’s Tahiti’s main strength?

The fact we’re a team. We’ve got outstanding players like Heimanu [Taiarui] and Jo, but the most important thing for me is the togetherness we have on and off the pitch. We’re a family now. We’re not so much team-mates, but a band of brothers now.

What are Tahiti hoping to achieve in Dubai?

We’re all competitors and we’ve all got our sights on the World Cup trophy. I guess the objective’s the same for every team: win the tournament. We need to take it step by step, not get ahead of ourselves, play our game, and treat each match like it’s our last.

You’ve had some real highs with Tahiti since 2011. What are your happiest World Cup memories up to now?

I’ve got a few. If I had to name just three, I’d say Tahiti’s first World Cup in Ravenna, Italy in 2011, where we won our first group match, 5-2 against Venezuela. Then there’s the 2013 World Cup at home, which was unforgettable. The passion it generated made a big impact on me. You’re in your bubble and you’re just not aware that people are getting behind the team so much. But when it’s all over and you realise, it’s like, ‘Wow!’ To get support like that was overwhelming. I’ve never known anything like it. My third best memory was finishing runners-up in 2015 and 2017, which was huge. We don’t have many resources but we still made the final.

You’ve got 18 players training at the moment, but only 14 will be going to Brazil in January and then Dubai in February. Do you know who you’re taking already?

I sat down with Angelo [Schirinzi, a FIFA beach soccer expert who recently joined the Tahiti staff as a co-selector] a little while ago and we did an initial 14-player list, each in our own corner. We ended up choosing the same players! So it’s perfect. We’re on the same wavelength and we have the same vision of things. I’m happy to have Angelo with me. We have the same philosophy, even if he’s Swiss (laughs). We work in the same way and we both know you can’t get something for nothing. He likes books too, and we call him ‘The General’ (laughs). We complement each other really well.

You’ve all got jobs outside beach soccer. Is it hard for players to leave them and go to the World Cup?

Some of us were negotiating with our bosses for a year to get permission from them to get off work for a couple of months. We also had to work things out with the local [11-a-side] clubs, because some players play in Tahiti’s Ligue 1. It’s not easy and we have to juggle things with the bosses at work and the club presidents and coaches. We manage to adapt, though, and in the end we always make arrangements because we don’t want to get angry with each other. We just want positive vibes!

Source: FIFA