Dural Warriors Feature on Fox 8 Search for a Superstar
DURAL WARRIORS 7 def FOOTBALL SUPERSTARS 1
The Fox 8 program, Football Superstar, hosted by Brian McFadden and former Matilda Amy Taylor asked NSW Futsal to field a team so that the remaining players, originally 15, but by now whittled down to 6, could demonstrate their skills in a small sided game. NSW Futsal chose the entertaining Dural Warriors team as the ages were similar to those of the Football Superstar team. While the coach of Sydney FC, John Kosmina, was to judge the performance of the Superstars, coaching before and during the day was provided by Steven Knight, coach of Northern Beaches Futsal and Assistant Australian coach, and Simon Keith, Australian, NSW and Quake Futsal captain.
The match was held on an international court at Dural on Tuesday the 24 June and children from several schools and Dural supporters turned up in numbers. The match was 20 minutes a half with a running clock.
The Superstars arrived with the surviving 6 players and Robbie Maiorana, a keeper from Sydney Magic Futsal, the reigning Premier League Champions. As two players were to be cut after the match, the pressure was on the Superstars to perform.
To add spice to the game, Dural player Rhys Giovenali made the original 15 of the Football Superstars team, but was subsequently evicted. On Tuesday, he played for Dural against his ex-team mates.
The match started at a fast tempo with an attacking formation by Dural. Man to man marking and extreme pressure on the inexperienced Superstars in their own half saw 5 shots at goal by Dural before the Superstars mounted their first serious foray into the Dural half which was quickly smothered. A pinpoint high pass from Seeto found Gonzalez who shot past an onrushing keeper. This goal was followed by Thornton who had a simple tap in from a Greg Giovenali passed free kick and an intercepted pass by Seeto saw him beating the last man and the keeper. A penalty for handball by a Superstar defender in the last minute of regulation time saw Greg Giovenali fire a thunderbolt into the top left corner resulting in a comfortable 4-0 lead to Dural going into the break.
In the second half, Lawson scored the 5th goal with a run down the left before the Superstars scored an own goal after a shot by Seeto was deflected by Maiorana into the path of an unlucky defender. After this, the Superstars were ecstatic to pull one back but a minute later, Lawson scored the 7th goal for the Dural Warriors.
The final result was a reflection of the Superstars inexperience in playing in a confined area as slick passing, anticipation and ball control by a well drilled Dural team, coached by Rob Varela, Technical Director of the World Cup bound Solomons team, dominated the game from beginning to end.
To demolish the best of over 1,000 tryouts in so remarkable a fashion proves the value of Futsal in developing ball skills. Despite the considerable efforts of Knight and Keith, outdoor players cannot overnight develop into players who can play in small spaces. Yet surely, this is essential for Australian Football to develop.
To quote Rob Baan, National Technical Director, ?The future of your son or daughter or pupil, as a ?player for fun? or as a future Socceroo or Matilda, must begin with small sided games?.
Highlights of the game will be shown on Fox 8 in episode 7 at 7.30pm on the 31 July and repeated on the following days.
Dural Warriors 7 Adam Bradley, Greg Giovenali (1 penalty), Julian Gonzalez (1), Ben Lawson (2), Toby Seeto (1), Michael Thornton (1), Rhys Giovenali, Allister Hercus (GK), Josh Cordrington (GK), Own goal
Football Superstars 1
Any comments to mseeto@bigpond.net.au
