Eagles too good for Quake
There were Futsalroos galore on show with Keith, Lockhart and McAndrew representing the Quake side whilst Spathis and Zeballos were the Eagles representatives along with 4 previous Futsalroo representatives. It sure was a clash many were anticipating and one that the big home crowd walked away ecstatic with the result.
The inform Leo Carle had the games first shot on goal after 3 minutes but that was easily handled by the returning Gavin O’Brien. Peter Spathis in the Eagles goal then had to be at his best with a superb flying save to his right only a minute later from a Danny Martinez strike from outside the area.
A theme of the game early on was the tight defence by both teams and it was Eagles coach Jamie Amendolia who responded to the high Quake defence isolating the incredibly skilful Leo Carle up top who turned Quake Captain Dean Lockhart in a lightning turn of speed only for O Brien to come to his captains rescue pulling off a great save.
O’Brien was in sensational early form and pulled of another great save this time denying Andres Gomez after Spathis dispossessed an oncoming Lockhart on his ?D? before releasing the diminutive Gomez.
It was clear that both keepers, both long term rivals for the Futsalroo number one jersey were in inspired form. First Spathis denied Shane Soutter and then O Brien denied first Gomes and then Carle. 10 minutes in and things were looking rosey for the Quake contingent when Soutter unleashed a powerful strike into the roof of the net to open the scoring.
O’Brien after repelling everything the Eagles threw at him in the opening exchanges was finally beaten after 14 minutes but it took a one of his own to do the trick. A Leo Carle strike which took a hefty deflection of Ian McAndrew drew the game back level. The game too and frowed with both teams defensive prowess being the highlight.
Just as the game seemed destined to be equal at halftime the Eagles incisive passing game worked a treat. Zeballos played a simple square ball to Gomez and took off down court, Gomez not a player to be pressed such is his quality easily got around Lockhart and found the wide open Zeballos after his marker in Simon Keith was caught ball watching rather than marking and Zeballos easily tucked away his strike from 2 yards out.
Quakes response was swift, O Brien crunched Carle in a legitimate 50-50 challenge and sent his team into attack first Keith played a good diagonal ball to McAndrew who inturn played an intelligent ball out wide to Lockhart who found an oncoming Keith who swung and completely missed the ball with a wide open goal at his mercy.
Keith was still obviously riled up with his earlier miss and got tangled firstly with Carle which resulted in a little push and shove and only seconds later pushed Spathis hard to the ground after the Eagles custodian stopped Keith getting to a ball and taking a quick free kick and was duly booked by the officials who handled the situation well as players tempers began to rise.
Whatever coach Ralph Capasso said to his troops during his half time talk worked a treat as his team came out firing, first it was Lockhart and then Soutter had chances only to be met by stubburn Eagles defending and a resilient Spathis in goal.
Quakes 3rd effort within two second half minutes saw Tuan Cao have his thunderous strike hit the post from a Lockhart corner and with the rebound falling directly to Spathis, the Eagles keeper duly tried to kick the ball the length of the court. Only an acrobatic O Brien save saw the Eagles keeper denied a truly memorable goal.
The luck which deserted Quake earlier for their corner didn?t apply to the Eagles as a Chris Zeballos corner found an open Andres Gomez who took one touch to steady himself before dispatching his shot past O Brien to give the Eagles a 3-1 lead. 2 minutes later Quake then gave the Eagles back some of their own medicine with some quick slick passing resulting in a goal to Andrew Pierce.
It was Symington and Lockhart who exchanged passes before finding Pierce who played a lovely 1-2 with Lockhart and then side footed the ball precisely under Spathis to give the Quake a way back into the game. The game ebbed and flowed waiting for someone to take the ascendency and it was Eagles that got the all important next goal.
A quick ball down the line by Gomez found Ross Fazzalaro who attempted to play the ball for the awaiting Marino Musumeci but the ball was shut down by good defending from quake youngster Jake McGing only for the rebound to fall delicately back to Fazzalaro who in second time trying found Musumeci who drilled the ball low to O?Briens right from 2 yards out.
The Eagles added a second goal within a minute much to the delight to the parochial home crowd as Musumeci dispossessed Souther mid court and raced down court to meet O’Brien but quickly cut the ball past the on coming keeper for Carle to slam home the ball from the edge of the ?D? with nothing but an open net facing him.
The Eagles added another goal within seconds after a poor pass by Lockhart was intercepted in the centre of the court by the man of the moment Musumeci who squared the ball to Zeballos who easily tapped home the Eagles second goal in 18 seconds and 3rd goal in 2 minutes.
Quake then had the games next best and last opportunity after some delightful passing by Symington and the surprisingly deftly used Danny Martinez combined for Symington to shoot well only to be denied by the strong left hand of Spathis.
The Eagles wont be outside the top 4 as they currently are for much longer. Now at full strength they have all the marks of a championship contender, their defence is often inpenetreble and with Peter Spathis in this form they are going to take some doing to get past.
Last seasons Champions Quake are in trouble. Big losses to competition rivals the Allstars and now the Eagles have the Campbelltown based side looking over their shoulder. On paper they look as formidable as any side in the competition but at the moment their attack isn?t free flowing as it usually is and their high tempo passing game of last season hasn?t been seen. Coach Capasso is an experienced coach but needs to get his chargers back to last season?s level and quickly.
MATCH STATS –
Sydney City Eagles 6 – Carle 14′, Zeballos 26′ 43′ Gomez 30′, Musumeci 42′ Carle 43′
Campbelltown City Quake 2 – Soutter 10′ Pierce 32′
TEAMS
Eagles – 2. P. Spathis, 20. L. Carle, 18. A. Gomez, 9. D. Maloney, 15. C. Zeballos.
Subs – 13. R. Fazzalaro, 19. M. Musumeci, 17. H. Carvalho, 12. M. Nishiji, 14. M. Candy, 1. A.Messina.
Quake – 1. G. O Brien, 4. D. Lockhart, 8. I. Mc Andrew, 12. S. Keith, 10. D. Martinez.
Subs – 2. J. Pierce, S. Soutter, M. Symington, T. Cao, S. Jahani, 23. J. Mc Ging, 20. J. Azzopardi
CAUTIONS
Eagles – N/A
Quake – Keith, Soutter
REFEREES
J. Moore, G. Lakrindis, 3rd K. Hockings
