FIJI! Fiji! Ole ole ole ole! The Brazilian crowd, thousands of them, on their feet roared and chanted this cheer in a Portuguese chorus when Fiji scored its first goal, 10 minutes and 45 seconds into the first-half of their much-anticipated match against Olympic champions Mexico.

Earlier, they chanted “Fiji eu acredito! Ole ole ole ole” meaning “Fiji I still believe” ? the same cheer they embraced Frank Farina’s team with in their first match against Korea on August 4.

Only this time, an even larger spectator-base of Brazilians throwing their support behind the 17 young men who are here in soccer-crazy Salvador carrying our island nation’s flag on the football arena.

This historical goal got Mexican coach Raul Gutierrez standing on the sideline for the duration of the first-half, noticeably in an uneasy position, when captain Roy Krishna and his boys held the world champs at bay throughout the remaining 35 minutes.

For Krishna, he may have scored this goal to be recorded in Fiji’s football history at its inaugural participation at the Olympic Games. It is certainly a special moment for him and his family.

But for this humble star, he credited his team fully for this achievement.

“The credit goes to the team. It is not just me that scored the goal, but the ball came from the midfield from Sefo (striker Iosefo Verevou). It was a great ball and I was lucky to be at the right place at the right time,” Krishna told this newspaper.

“You know it is every striker’s dream to score goals in a big competition like this and today was my day.”

On a personal note, Krishna said he felt proud of himself and his family.

“I don’t know whether they were watching (on television), but this is something special to take back home.

“My family will be proud of us and this is for the whole team.

“We defended well and it was a great ball and like I said, I was at the right place at the right time.”

He said they might have lost to Mexico, but the consolation was the boys giving their 100 per cent as was required of them in every match.

Coach Frank Farina concurred this was a historical goal not only for Fiji football but also for Krishna himself.

“It’s fantastic,” Farina said.

Responding to a question from this newspaper, Gutierrez said Fiji did give his boys some competition and expressed his disappointment with the 1-5 score, of course, expecting a much higher margin.

Speaking through an interpreter, he said the Fijian boys had the experience in football, judging from what he saw on the field at the Fonte Nova Arena.

But he said they needed more international exposure to develop their skills.

Senior player and Salvador’s favourite goalkeeper Simione Tamanisau also commended the boys for playing their hearts out and they now looked forward to playing Germany on August 10, which he said would be just as exciting.

The boys depart the Gran Hotel Stella Maris – that has been their home for more than a week – for Belo Horizonte today.