Fiji sack Aussie Farina after Rio flop – reports

Suva (Fiji) (AFP) – Fiji have sacked former Socceroos boss Frank Farina as their football coach following the island nation’s poor showing at the Rio Olympics, reports said on Tuesday.

Fiji conceded 23 goals in three games at the tournament in Brazil, including a 10-0 thrashing by eventual silver-medallists Germany, and managed to score only once.

The Fiji Broadcasting Corporation said Australia’s Farina had not turned up for work since the Olympics and had not submitted a post-Games report.

The Fiji Sun said his two-year contract, signed in October last year, had been terminated.

No one from the Fiji Football Association was immediately available to comment.

Farina was promoted to senior men’s coach after enjoying success with Fiji at last year’s Under-20 World Cup in New Zealand, where they narrowly missed out on the last 16.

Farina warned before the Games that the Pacific nation’s expectations of its footballers were unrealistically high.

“We are not the Fiji rugby sevens side who are the world champions. We want to put in a good performance, not be embarrassed, and be credible,” he told FIFA.com in July.

“That is reality, and some people, who think we will go there and win a medal, don’t understand that.”