Vanuatu, till now, has never played in any major FIFA senior men’s tournament. Last year, it got a chance to make history – playing in the FIFA World Cup 2022 qualifiers in Qatar.
Five members of that squad had represented the country in the FIFA U-20 World Cup two years ago.
The team looked set to face Tahiti, Solomon Islands and Cook Islands for a spot in the Oceania Intercontinental playoffs, the precursor to the penultimate stage of a confirmed place in Qatar 2022.
Two hours before the first match against Tahiti, the dressing room of the Lusail Stadium had the players singing in Bislama (the national language of Vanuatu), holding hands and standing in a circle, joking around while some were wearing their kits.
Just then, the team got a call – the players needed to be tested for COVID-19.
Of the 35 in the camp, 34 tested positive. The match against Tahiti was postponed. And two days later, the Vanuatu Football Federation informed FIFA that it was withdrawing from the qualifiers.
Brian Kaltak was the captain of Vanuatu when its World Cup qualifiers were cancelled after a COVID-19 outbreak. | Photo Credit: AIFF
“In line with the applicable protocol and given the seven-day quarantine requirement, the Vanuatu Football Federation has confirmed to FIFA that it’s not in a position to play its upcoming FIFA World Cup qualification matches,” read the official statement.
The World Cup dream was over for Vanuatu.
“It was devastating. We were looking forward to the qualifiers, and then it happened. Everyone was shocked. No one saw it coming,” Brian Kaltak, Vanuatu’s captain tells Sportstar, looking away at the dimming lights at the Kalinga Stadium, just outside the team’s dressing room after its match against India in the Intercontinental Cup.
After a brief pause, he continues, “But it happens you know. What can I say, it still feels frustrating at times.”
Brian has been here before – starting from scratch after a disaster- literally and metaphorically. In 2015, a category five cyclone, Pam, ravaged Erakor, one of the islands of Vanuatu and the one Brian and his family resided.
25 percent of Vanuatu’s 276,000 citizens lost their homes in 2015 when Cyclone Pam devastated the South Pacific archipelago of 83 islands. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
It destroyed crops, demolished schools, killed people and decimated anything that came in its way, incurring damages worth USD 692 million (approximately 5687 crore rupees).
Brian and his family were some of the survivors. He struggled for professional football opportunities for seven years, and in 2022, there was light at the end of the tunnel.
Joshua Smith, a football coach who had once worked as a technical advisor at the Vanuatuan Football Federation, tipped former Sheffield United player and the current Central Coast Mariners coach Chris Montgomery about the centre-back.
“I was called for a trial after Qatar. I went straight to Australia, and I passed it,” Brian says.
As Brian played for the Mariners, the whole of Vanuatu stayed glued to their television, especially the people of Erakor. So much so that the Australian High Commission joined them for the semifinal.
At 29, Brian became the first professional footballer from the country to win the A-League, Australia’s premier football league, with the Central Coast Mariners. And that too in his debut season.
Brian Kaltak of the Mariners celebrates winning the 2023 A-League Men’s Final. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
“Playing in my first professional season and then winning the A-League. There’s nothing more you can wish for,” he says.
The defender took out the Vanuatu flag, wrapped it around his shoulder and celebrated all around the stadium after the win.
“I keep saying this, during the training sessions every day, I used to visualise us winning the league, every day up to the final. And as soon as it happened, I knew that I deserved it, everything that I prayed for, is finally here.”
Erakor is an island with exquisite coral reefs and seagrass meadows where kids play football and then jump into the ocean for a swim. Brian’s childhood was similar, throwing his bag at home after school and following his father to the field.
“It’s been a long journey from the island. I look back, and I see myself playing with a bunch of plastics taped together. It feels like yesterday, and now, I’m playing professional football. It is pretty amazing,” he says.
“Football is in the blood of my family. My dad, his cousins, then me and my cousins. So, it’s been there for ages, and I am proud to carry on the legacy.”
Brian idolised his dad growing up, but he got another inspiration once he watched Brazilian legend Ronaldhino on TV. “I saw Ronaldinho play, for club and country. He used to stand out from the rest of the players, and I fell in love with him,” he says.
On the beaches where a young Brian once played to become Ronaldinho, children now play to become Brian Kaltak.
Young villagers play soccer on the black sand beach in the village of Waisisi in Tanna, Vanuatu. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
“I hope they (the children) find inspiration in me. I’d like to tell them to keep dreaming. If I can get it at the age of 29, they can do it as well,” he says.
Vanuatu has played just two international friendlies since its withdrawal from the World Cup qualifiers, beating Fiji 2-1 and losing 0-2 to Solomon Islands.
And playing in the Intercontinental Cup, in its first-ever matches in India, has returned a sense of joy to the team.
The music has returned. So have the laughs. After the game against India, the players got together in a circle, held hands and sang in Bislama, ending it with applause.
Vanuatuan players in training for the Intercontinental Cup in Bhubaneswar. | Photo Credit: AIFF
“It’s a song in our local language to thank the Lord for giving us this opportunity, to come here and play,” Brian says, with a smile similar to that he had at Lusail before the test results arrived.
“It will be late night in Vanuatu now, but some of them must be watching us play,” he adds.
There are no COVID-19 tests now. The team is greeted with cheers in a foreign country instead of positive coronavirus test results hours before a match. And that alone is a win for Vanuatu.
“I did not expect the fans to applaud us for our effort after the game. It was really special,” Brian says. “For us, we lost 0-1. In football, it happens but the reception was nice.”
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