Futsal Men’s Premier League Round 14 Reveiw
In the end, Rovers were proclaimed premiers by one point over Warriors, the Eagles three points further back and Quake rounding out the top four just ahead of Boomerangs.
The 35 goals scored in the final week of the regular season ? the third time in the last four rounds the mark was reached ? pushed the overall average up to 8.3 per game, providing plenty of goalmouth action for spectators and grey hairs for coaches.
Enfield and Sydney City finished with the competition?s best home records, both taking a mammoth 18 points from their seven allotted home fixtures, Dural claiming 17 and Campbelltown 15. Rovers were also best on the trail grabbing 13 points in seven away games to tie with Warriors, while the Eagles, Boomerangs and Allstars each took nine points on the road.
On the offence, Enfield (75 goals), Dural (72) and Sydney City (69) were by far the competition?s greatest scorers, while at the defensive end it was an outstanding effort from Warriors (37 goals conceded), followed by Eagles (50) and Allstars (51).
There were five draws and only two nil scorelines from the 56 games played over summer as a tidy 465 goals were scored by 95 different players, 68 becoming multiple scorers and 42 reaching five goals or more.
Boomerangs star Daniel Fulton topped the goalscorers chart with a mesmerising 24 goals in 14 games, including a five goal blitz against premiers Enfield in round three and two other hat-tricks (against Rovers in the return bout and Mascot). He only failed twice to pick up a goal.
Dural?s Greg Giovenali and SydneyCity?s Chris Zeballos picked up 18 goals apiece, Enfield?s Shervin Adeli finished with 14 goals, while Campbelltown?s Danny Martinez and Rovers Joseph Foti scored 13 each. Other players to reach double figures included Toby Seeto (Dural), Jacob Di Mento (Enfield) Rodrigo Barbosa (Mascot), Pete Gaffney (South Coast) Corey Bizco (Dural), Ediz Alpkaya (Inner West) and Tim Mascarello (Enfield).
In the true test of consistency, Inner West will be crowned club champions after winning three of the nine grades (U14 girls, U14 boys, U12 girls), with Enfield, Mascot and Dural finishing just behind them. Rovers also won three grades (U16 girls, open men and women), while Dural (youth men), Campbelltown (U16 boys) and Mascot (U12 boys) picked up one premiership each.
Overall, Allstars and Campbelltown both had seven teams make finals action, followed by Enfield (6), Dural (5), Mascot, (4), Sydney City (4), Boomerangs (2) and Southw Coast will cheer on their under-14 boys side. A special congratulations to the Mascot under-12 boys and Inner West under-14 boys, who both won 14 straight games as victorious minor premiers, clocking up 87 goals each along the way.
Rovers rattle Taipans
Enfield Rovers showed off their minor premiers tag with a classy 10-4 victory against South Coast Taipans at All Saints Grammar on Saturday night.
South Coast stuck with the competition leaders for the first half before succumbing to a wave of attacking futsal to eventually go down by six goals.
Tim Mascarello notched up his 10th goal of the season to put Enfield in front early but South Coast leveled through Russell Crighton. Rovers player Rob Foti then delivered twice in quick succession before Shervin Adeli added another to give the home side a three goal buffer.
The Taipans kept themselves in the contest when Daniel Ferraro scored to make it 4-2 at halftime, but Adeli and Foti struck again straight after the break and Lachlan Wright chimed in with a brace to put Enfield in a prime position 8-2 up, a Coast own goal extending the advantage even further.
But the last-placed visitors showed no signs of surrender and Pete Gaffney drove the ball into the back of the net to peg one goal back and Ferraro also scored after Foti grabbed his fourth for the game to finalise proceedings with Enfield comfortable 10-4 victors.
Rovers coach Ernie Bivona was pleased as punch to finish first in premier league and congratulated his team for their season-long efforts.
?This topped the cake for our season,? he said. ?Some people look at our team as being a bit older, but we?ve got excellent camaraderie and really want to fight for each other. When the chips are down someone will pick the ball up and run with it.?
?Although the score doesn?t represent the quality of South Coast, the win was good form to take into the finals.?
Bivona said they would be without Rob Foti next weekend but backed the team?s depth to cover the goalscorer?s absence.
?A lot of guys said it would be a two team race this year [Dural and Sydney City and we?ve proved them wrong. Hopefully some rep honours will come the way for our younger players who have done a superb job all season.
?We?re always happy to finish with the minor premiership, but the job?s only half done. It is first past the post that matters most to a lot of people but in Australia we have the beauty of finals and we want to get to the last game and win it.
?It?s not just about the titles it?s mainly about the memories. We?ve got a good bunch of mates at the club and you always remember grand final day, you always talk about that game.?
The pragmatic coach was also careful not to get too far ahead of himself, knowing that any mistakes could cost them dearly.
?Last year Sydney City finished fourth and went on to win the grand final, so it shows that finals are a different ball game altogether. You can easily go from minor premiers to not even making the grand final.?
?I would like to offer my congratulations to Jacob Di Mento. I picked him as a young captain over some very experienced players but the way he has led from the front like a true leader should, he has done very well for himself and the team. I know he would love to represent his country one day.?
While Bovina appreciated the plaudits of finishing first in premier league he passed on the applause to every top flight team and player that contributed to such an enthralling competition.
?There were eight terrific teams in it this year and you had to show up to every game as any team could roll you on any given night,? he said.
?That?s the beauty of this competition. There are a lot of good players, and the structure of the premier league and super league over the last seven years has led to more depth and better quality players. The women?s competition is the same.
?What the clubs are doing behind the scenes, I think the national game will only get better because of what we?re achieving in these two comps.?
South Coast coach April Van Woerkom knew Enfield had plenty to play for but was pleased with the way her charges kept their heads up in a spirited display
?They were in good form, they wanted to win, but it was still a good game from us,? she said. ?I?m more pleased that our main squad was willing to turn up again and we have to build on that.?
?All of the players said they were willing to come back and build on what we?ve got and get us straight back into premier league, and I think this year?s experience will help us a bundle.?
?We were shell-shocked at the start of the season and really weren?t ready for what the premier league needed, but we woke up to it in the second half of season and if the teams don?t change much that will help us next year.?
It was a big learning curve for the club and for Van Woerkom personally, who called her first senior men?s team coaching appointment ?a real eye-opener?. She certainly enjoyed some enterprising performances that unfortunately weren?t matched by results, and the popular manager believed Sydney City would give the title a good shake in the finals.
Quake rock Boomerangs
Campbelltown Quake grabbed a coveted top four spot with a final round 5-3 win over Boomerangs at Minto Indoor Sports Stadium on Saturday night.
Both teams dominated long periods of play to make the outcome uncertain for much of the contest but it was the home side that rumbled loudest when it counted.
Daniel Fulton put Boomerangs on the board early with a goal inside the opening five minutes, his league-leading 24th score of a glittering season, and it took a while for Quake to hit back through Shane Ardle.
Kristian Collins restored the visitors almost straight away to make it 2-1, but a Mark Symington double in the last minute of the half gave Campbelltown a much-needed boost heading into the interval as they led for the first time in the match.
Jason O?Dwyer equalised for Boomerangs moments after the restart and the game hung on a knife?s edge with both sides probing forward for match-winning goals, knowing a draw would give Inner West the chance it needed to jump them both on the ladder.
It was Quake who took the initiative to go 4-3 up inside the final quarter-hour via Ardle but they were then placed under the pump as Boomerangs launched raid after raid without success.
The ACT-based side was put further on the back foot when Quake target Danny Martinez scored with 10 minutes to go and Campbelltown hung on for a vital victory that lifted them into the finals.
Quake club secretary Carlos Martinez was proud of his club?s achievements this year, particularly a men?s side that had to rebound from last year?s disappointment.
?Geez it was a hard fought second half and it wasn?t until Danny Martinez scored that I thought we had a nice cushion,? he said. ?But the boys did really well and we are there. We can?t complain too much about the season and from here on everything will be a bonus.?
?It really was all or nothing for both teams and Shane Borg was again outstanding in goals for us .The young lads from the young brigade also did well; we had five this time on the bench, including Connor Irwin, our under 14s goalkeeper.?
Martinez knows he will be up against it when they face the Eagles this weekend in the knockout final. Two years ago Campbelltown knocked favourites City out of the finals and then went on to win the title. Last year Quake didn?t even make the semis.
?This year our goal was to consolidate and try to make the finals. Now we have nothing to lose, with a full squad, so who?s to know what will happen. On paper they?re probably heavy favourites, but we go into every game thinking we have a chance,? he said.
?I think already we have achieved what we?ve set out to achieve and the future looks really nice with all our young people coming through? seven teams making the finals is a Quake club record.?
Boomerangs co-coach Kristian Collins was disappointed to not make the finals but appreciated the good season his side had.
?Just some ill-discipline defensively cost us the game,? he said. ?We spoke about the last time we met, when we conceded four goals in the first five minutes and after that it was all us, so we had a lot of confidence going into the match. It just wasn?t meant to be for us this season.?
?When you look back and think about the weekends that cost us there were several games we dominated and didn?t end up winning. We should?ve done the job a long time ago and that put ourselves in a difficult situation.?
While Collins picked in-form Enfield and Dural to make the grand final and then ?toss a coin?, he said he was pleased Boomerangs had a solid platform to build on for next summer.
?We?ve learnt a lot from this season and will come back bigger and stronger next year. The goal was just to stay up [in premier league] and we?ve done that pretty comfortably. Now we?ll get stuck into training for next season and developing early and will definitely be better for the experience.?
?Next season we?ll look to have 4-5 teams competing in the finals [Boomerangs had two make this post-season action] and look for a top three finish in the club championship.?
Warriors outshine Allstars
Dural Warriors were made to work hard in a tight 3-2 win over Inner West Allstars at the Morris Iemma Sports Centre on Saturday night.
Only a victory would give Inner West a chance of making the finals and they came out on fire, Kris Atkinson and Andrew Paine netting goals to give Allstars a 2-0 buffer. Dural were trying hard and Toby Seeto finally found a way through late in the first half, and the goal proved vital.
As both sides went at each other throughout the second period it was two late Warriors strikes to Rhys Giovenali and Daine Merrin that buried Allstars and helped Dural wrap up second place on the ladder.
Warriors coach Rob Varela said the Allstars gave them a real battle and looked forward to a similar big game against Enfield this weekend.
?It was a real hard game; Inner West defended really well and caught us on the break with two early goals. We came back just as hard in the second half and had most of the possession, but they just defended tight and their goalkeeper did some brilliant saves,? he said.
?In the end we got two late goals to win it and put us into the major semi-final.?
?We?re really looking forward to it. Enfield are the minor premiers; we?ve we just got to focus on our game as you only have to be a few percentages off your game for the other side to beat you. If we play our best we will compete.?
Despite the men?s side narrowly missing the finals (by one game) and the women?s side going even closer (missing by one goal), Inner West club coach Matteo Maiorana paid tribute to an outstanding club effort that saw Allstars claim their sixth club championship in eight years
?It was a massive effort by everyone at the club. Our intention at the start of every season is to win the club championship, unlike some clubs who focus only on their senior teams,? he said.
?Our seven young teams made the finals, three were minor premiers, and our two senior sides only just missed out, so that was a terrific achievement.?
?[Against Dural in the men?s game] We just went into it with the same mindset we have every week, and it was just a little bit of bad luck and missing players that proved the difference between the two sides.
?Considering we matched them for the majority of the game without one NSW representative and they had two internationals and six state players, I think we did an outstanding job.?
Looking back on a tough season, Maiorana thought the 4-3 loss to Boomerangs was the pivotal result that kept them from playing in finals futsal.
?I think we were good enough. We beat Quake both times and matched it with every team in the comp except for that one bad game against Sydney City[a 6-0 loss]. We were pretty happy to do as well as we did without having a full squad available every week.?
Vipers bring down Eagles
Mascot Vipers ended the season in fine style with a 6-2 win against finals-bound Sydney City Eagles at Hawkesbury Indoor Centre on Saturday night.
Mascot fielded a very young side ? two senior players, a 19-year-old and the rest were aged 17 ? and their enthusiasm and energy showed when Jakob Radas scored the opening goal.
City?s Chris Hanly equalised moments later before a brilliant Osmar De Barros freekick restored the Vipers lead within a minute and an Alex Euripidou goal made it 3-1 at halftime.
Eagles star Chris Zeballos scored his 18th goal of the summer to halve the deficit just after the main break but that?s where the visitors stopped, Vic Koutsoufis, Luke Clifford and Radas scoring three more goals for Mascot to hand them a deserved 6-2 victory.
Sydney coach Jamie Amendolia was shocked by the result but didn?t show any signs of concern.
?I was a little bit surprised by the effort as we just didn?t turn up to play, but at the end of the day I don?t think there are any favourites in the finals; nobody should expect to win or lose,? he said.
?Last season we lost our last game to Mascot 9-2 and went through to win it, so hopefully it?s a good omen for us.?
Amendolia said every team in the finals would be rocked by player commitments to outdoor pre-season training and Futsalroos training, leaving the door wide open for anyone to take the title. He also wouldn?t buy the call that Sydney City?s extensive title-winning history would promote them to favourites.
?This team is totally different to the last four seasons,? he said. ?We?ve got a lot of new players, so you can?t draw comparisons on any previous years. We?ve got some players who are currently doing five nights of football and futsal a week, so this will be a lottery and it could go one way or the other.?
Vipers club president Zvi Ben David was delighted that his youngsters ended a tumultuous season on a high note.
?These kids have been with us for a long time and are very passionate about the club and we had nothing to play for besides our pride; they played hard, they played well, they played smart,? he said. ?The kids were absolutely ecstatic after the game and it was a good confidence builder for them.?
?For them it was a challenge and they defended very, very well and got them on the counter attack quite nicely. Overall it was good, they had a good time and enjoyed it.?
Ben David said it was a season where the club lost its spark mid-season, lost its home ground, and lost plenty of players to injuries, tours and even a scholarship in the United States.
?Even I lost a bit of oomph and there was a lot of turmoil trying to fill teams with players. We still managed to get four teams in the finals [last year they had seven] and with everything that went on this year we didn?t do too badly,? he said. ?We get Menai back next season, so everything should be more settled.?
Ben David picked Sydney City to win both the men?s and women?s titles.
Next week?s games
The first round of finals action (Saturday, February 4) sees Enfield Rovers battle Dural Warriors in the major semi-final, with the winners to march straight into this season?s championship decider. If their recent encounters are anything to go by this will be another close affair after a 5-5 draw failed to split the teams in round four, and Enfield just sneaking over the line in a 5-4 epic in the reverse clash.
In the knockout semi-final Sydney City Eagles host Campbelltown Quake, and this could go either way as well. City cruised to a 9-4 home win over Campbelltown in round four only for Quake to turn the tables in a 7-4 win at Minto in round 11.
In fact, the competition heavyweights could not have been much tighter over the course of the season, with Eagles the best of the finalists winning three and losing three contests against top-four opposition (gaining nine points from a possible 18). Warriors were next best with eight points, while Rovers and Quake both claimed seven points. Goals scored was also close in their top-four battles, Sydney City netting the most (29), followed by Dural (27), Rovers (26) and Campbelltown (24).
By: Dan De Nardi
