The Solomon Islands national futsal team have hit their stride in the build-up to the FIFA Futsal World Cup with a historic 4-3 victory over hosts Thailand and some credit for that success has been directed at the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RSFF).

The Kurukuru arrived in Bangkok on Monday after an intensive 11-day training camp at the Ciudad del Futbol in Las Rozas, Madrid which included friendlies against the Spanish national team and two club sides.

The tour was organised as part of a memorandum of understanding between OFC and RSFF, in which support is offered by the Spanish federation in the form of expertise, training and mentoring.

The Kurukuru are the first team to visit Spain for training and mentoring under this partnership and team official Joseph Boso expressed his thanks to the RSFF on behalf of the Solomon Islands Football Federation for the privilege and opportunity the squad had been afforded.

“It is hard to describe how thankful we are,” Boso says.

“The past week has been an amazing one in terms of our training but also for ourselves personally, the players have learnt a lot. It was a privilege to train in the world-class facilities that we used and the hospitality given to us by the RSFF has been warm and most welcoming throughout.”

RSFF representative Miguel Galan says the federation is proud to have played host to the Kurukuru and wishes them luck at the World Cup.

“We are very happy to have the Solomon Islands futsal team here in Spain and we hope the experience has been rewarding,” Galan says.

“We wish the team all the best at the World Cup – play for the Solomons and play to honour our friendship also.”

The Kurukuru are set for a rematch against Australia today as part of the All Star Futsal Festival as they build to their first World Cup match against Russia on November 3.

For more on Solomon Islands football go to www.siff.com.sb