Futsal Men’s Premier League Semi Final Review

After another engaging affair between the premier league?s top-two sides (their previous two meetings finished in a 5-5 draw and a 5-4 win to Enfield), this time it was a spectacular Greg Giovenali volley with the last touch of the ball that decided it.
With Enfield captain Jacob Di Mento missing at a wedding the stage was still set for a thrilling clash and the game was just 40 seconds old when the first drama happened as Rovers keeper Jimmy Gullotta was deemed to have handled the ball outside the D and sent off, forcing coach Ernie Bivona to move team target and 13-goal season scorer Joe Foti between the posts.

Despite the early setback Enfield grabbed the ascendancy and raced to a two goal lead behind Shervin Adeli and Tim Mascarello strikes before Josh Smith pegged one back for Dural midway through the opening term.
But Rovers were on the warpath and Lachlan Wright and a second Adeli score pushed the premiers out to a 4-1 lead, only to see Isaac Wadik bob up for a goal at the other end to make it 4-2. Enfield missed an open goal just before halftime to keep the scoreline unchanged at the interval.
It was a different story in the second half as Warriors dominated possession and began a sweeping wave of attacks on goal without much reward and the match ticked into the final 10 minutes with Rovers still holding onto a two goal break.
And then it happened. First Toby Seeto scored for Dural to make it 4-3, then Wadik grabbed his second to equalise and suddenly the game was there for the taking for either side.
Enter Greg Giovenali, Warriors leading scorer with 19 goals but hadn?t scored since early December, who latched onto a beautifully hit volley that rifled past everyone and into the back of the net a second before the fulltime hooter sounded.
The Dural stadium erupted as the jubilant Warriors players embraced each other after one of the most exciting finishes ever. They will now suit up for Friday?s grand final and await the outcome of Monday night?s preliminary final between Enfield and Campbelltown.

Dural coach Rob Varela was chuffed to make the championship decider and end a six-match winning streak by Enfield, but not before a bit of blood, sweat and almost tears.
?It was a really good game. They caught us on the break early on and led 4-1 just before halftime, but we came home strong at the end,? he said.
?There was a crowd of about 400 people there and a lot were Dural supporters and let me say they were pretty happy. I just would?ve been happy for us to make extra time.?
Varela lamented on a poor first half but said his side more than made up for it in the second against a stoic Rovers defence.
?They?re worthy minor premiers; Enfield didn?t win it for no reason. What makes this match-up so attractive is that we play quite differently to each other,? he said.
?They?re a great defensive side and have skilful players going forward quick on the counter whereas we play a more methodical type of game and like to play the ball around.

?[At halftime] I just told the boys that we had to control possession and not give the ball away cheaply. We definitely couldn?t concede any more goals.?

While Varela would love another crack at Enfield he didn?t discount Campbelltown?s huge upset of Sydney City on Saturday night paving the way for further success.
?It?s a tight comp and you only have to be 5-10 per cent off your game on any given night to give you trouble,? he said.
?That said, teams just match up better with some teams than others [Dural haven?t beaten Campbelltown this season, while Enfield haven?t beaten Sydney City and Campbelltown haven?t beaten Enfield]. We?ll take a look at the prelim final, but I don?t see any reason to change anything that we?re doing.?
Rovers coach Ernie Bivona isn?t one to make excuses and despite losing his captain before the match and his goalkeeper within a minute of play he was ultimately amazed with his team?s performance.

?I walked away from the game as proud as punch for what the players gave me and for that badge on their shirt,? he said. ?For a player who hasn?t been in goals all season, Joe Foti did an outstanding job against a Dural side that has so many representative players.?
?And that last-second goal [by Greg Giovenail] to win it was one of the best individual hits I?ve seen in a very long time. But that?s the beauty of Futsal, and I hope it gets on TV one day ?cause it?s never over ?til she sings.?
?[At 4-2 up at halftime] I said to them that we?ve done the hard work, now we just have to worry about conceding because they?re going to run at us for the next 25 minutes. And they did.?
?We were a bit deflated straight after the game ? the players were shattered as they gave everything, and with the way it ended after leading for most of the game, we were a bit cut up ? but we all walked away with a lot of confidence and an hour later the players were all looking forward to Monday night.?
Enfield now play a red-hot Campbelltown in Monday night?s preliminary final at Riverwood?s Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre.
Although the Rovers have beaten Quake twice this season (6-4 and 8-4), the way Campbelltown dismantled Sydney City 8-3 in Saturday night?s knockout game indicates this will be a much sterner test.
It should be an interesting match-up between Enfield and Campbelltown. Quake probably did Rovers a favour by knocking out their bogey team Sydney City, who beat Bivona?s side twice this year whereas Quake are yet to find a way past Enfield.
?Like we?ve said all year, any team on any night can beat any squad, so I?ll never think that far ahead to take Campbelltown lightly,? he said.
?I really want to have another nice battle with the Warriors boys as Rob Varela and Dural know they got out of jail. I think we did exceptionally well with the tools we had.?
?But I wouldn?t expect anything less than a tough final against Quake. You look forward to those tough ones as the harder games toughen you up and get you prepared.?


Team Lineups

Enfield Rovers: 18. J. Gullotta, 11. T. Masscarello, 21. L. Wright, 7. P. Pace, 10. S. Adeli Subs: 8. N. Fragassi, 13. J. Foti, 9. T. Simpson, 19. I Kerem, 28. J. Maniscalco
Dural Warriors: 1. A. Bruce, 8. T. Seeto, 32. G. Giovenali, 11. D. Merrin, 10. C. Biczo Subs: 12. S. Linton, 18. I. Waddick, 14. J. Smith, 15. B. Rosier, 24. N. Niski, 4. A. Bradley, 68. Z. Caruana
Scorers:
Enfield Rovers – S. Adeli 8′, 19′, T. Mascarello 16′, 21′
Dural Warriors – I. Waddick 15′, 42′, J. Smith 20′, T. Seeto 38′, G. Giovenali 50′

Quake knocks out City lights
Campbelltown Quake blasted a shell-shocked Sydney City Eagles 8-3 in a mind-blowing sudden death semi-final at Dural Sports & Leisure Centre on Saturday night.
Quake now march onto Monday night?s elimination preliminary final against premiers Enfield Rovers at Riverwood?s Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre, a team they haven?t beaten this year.
However, they?ll certainly take some good form into the match after an awe-inspiring display against highly fancied Sydney City.
Campbelltown were missing Aussie goalkeeper Gavin O?Brien and player/coach Simon Keith (suspended) but fired out of the blocks and before you could bat an eyelid Danny Martinez had put one into the back of the net in an ominous sign of things to come.
City?s leading scorer Chris Zeballos responded in the second minute to level the scores but goals to Mark Symington, Shane Ardle and Martinez again lifted Campbelltown to a comprehensive 4-1 advantage in just the 10th minute of the game.
The frenetic pace and scoring had spectators shifting in their seats as Symington added another goal five minutes before halftime only for Miles Downie to hand the Eagles a lifeline at 5-2 down at the break.
Despite Quake playing out of their skins and pressing up the court, many expected City to come back into it in the second half, but well taken chances by Ardle and Symington extended Campbelltown?s lead to 7-2 inside the final quarter-hour.

The dreaded Sydney fightback never eventuated and when Ardle completed his hat-trick five minutes from time to make it 8-2 a late Ray Miller goal for the Eagles was pure consolation.
It was scenes of jubilation among the Campbelltown supporters and a usually talkative coach Simon Keith was speechless after burying City for the second successive time following round 11?s 7-4 win at Minto.
Even club secretary Carlos Martinez was scratching his head at where the outstanding performance came from.
?I really don?t know what happened to be honest. At 5-2 up at halftime even the strongest Quake supporters were waiting for them to come back and hit us hard, but someone forgot to tell the players because I?ve never seen them perform so strongly, so committed,? he said.

?We finished most of our chances, which was a bit of the difference, Shane Borg was outstanding in goals, really outstanding, Ian McAndrew controlled everything from the back as he usually does, and our young players again stepped up brilliantly.
?In City?s defence it was one of those days where everything they touched turned to dust and everything we touched turned to gold. We?re really happy to survive one more day.?
Martinez said that training during the week focused on shutting down the Eagles playmakers with a full court press, and the tactic certainly worked.
?It was a matter that we knew we would be depleted of players and all Simon [Keith] said to them was to be committed and press them high and don?t let them settle into their normal play as they have so many quality guys,? he said.

?We pressed them so far up the court they had no time to get settled, their goalkeeper Peter Spathis probably didn?t have his best night, and you put that all together and you come up with a great win.?
?I have to say that Sydney City are a fantastic bunch of human beings and congratulated our guys and wished us luck and there was a really good feeling with the City guys after the game,? Martinez said.
?I got the feeling that it has been a really long year for a lot of their players with all the football they?ve been playing because they did look a little fatigued. If we played them 10 more times they would?ve beaten us nine times, but it was our night on Saturday night.?
Campbelltown played out some interesting results throughout the day with all three outfits involved in elimination games winning through and the four teams in major semi-finals going down, meaning they still have seven sides left in finals contention.
But the senior men?s side winning such a big match was definitely a highlight according to Martinez.
?It was really nice, especially as we had a point to prove that we weren?t just making up the numbers,? he said. ?I said last week that this game was a bonus and now the next game is a double bonus.?
?I know we?re up against it; Enfield are premiers and have beaten us twice this year. Right now, though, we have absolutely zero to lose and the pressure will be all on them.?

As much as the Eagles performed below par, coach Jamie Amendolia refused to take anything away from a superb Quake effort.
?They were enthusiastic and deserved their win,? he said. ?It seems all the other teams hit the semis heading north and we went south.?
?All the boys put their hands up after the game and accepted responsibility for their performances. Unfortunately we didn?t leave our best ?til last and we didn?t step up our intensity.?
?We had talked about taking our chances and said it would come back to haunt us when it counted, in sudden death.?
Amendolia agreed his players had suffered from a little burnout leading into the finals but they could now all sit back and watch the rest of the drama unfold.
?I?m still proud of the boys. They had a great year and I think their workloads caught up to them,? he said. ?I wish all the other teams the best of luck and think anyone can still win it. As I?ve said all year it will be the team that turns up on the day that will win.?
?Dural and Quake play high pressing games, which are effective when skilful teams are not sharp enough on the ball. Enfield likes to sit deep and wait for the [opposition] to make mistakes and get frustrated. Let?s see which system wins out.?
Team Lineups
Sydney City Eagles: 2. P. Spathis, 7. R. Miller, 8. A. Gomez, 9. C. Zeballos, 12. C. Hanly Subs: 5. M. downie, 6. M. Candy, 10. M. Mohebbee. 13. C. Musumeci, 4. S. Perre, 1. M. Brackenrig, 3. H. Komatsu
Campbelltown Quake: 12. S. Borg, 7. S. Ardel, 8. I. McAndrew, 10. D. Martinez, 14. M. Symington Subs: 1. Andrew Haim, 15. G. Seymour, 2. B. Antelmi, 3. D. Vellonio, 5. J. McGing, 4. N. Clissold, 6. H. De Silva 
Scorers:
Sydney City Eagles – C. Zaballos 2′, M. Downie 24′, R. Miller 48′
Campbelltown Quake – D. Martinez 1′, 10′, M. Symington 7′, 19′, 35′, S. Ardel 9′, 29′, 44′,

Monday night?s preliminary final
Due to the Australian Futsal team?s Asian qualifiers in Thailand later this month, the open men?s final series has been brought forward to ensure NSW players can fulfill their club commitments without disrupting national preparations.
The preliminary final between Enfield Rovers and Campbelltown Quake will be played at the Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre, Riverwood, on Monday night, February 6 (7.30pm kick-off), with the winner to meet Dural Warriors in the grand final at The Sports Halls, Sydney Olympic Park, on Friday night, February 10 (7.30pm kick-off).

Review of the other grades
It was an exciting first day of finals in all grades of Premier League as hundreds of spectators packed the Dural Sports & Leisure Centre to cheer on their teams.
After 18 grueling encounters six of the league?s nine premiers booked their grand final berths, which will be held at Dural Sports & Leisure Centre on Saturday, February 18. The preliminary finals are scheduled for Menai Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday, February 11.
In the open women?s competition Sydney City overturned premiers Enfield 3-1 to move onto the championship decider, as Rovers now take on Quake in the preliminary final following Campbelltown?s 3-1 knock out win over Dural.
In youth men premiers Dural were made to fight hard for a 1-0 defeat of Campbelltown and earn a grand final ticket, meaning Quake play fourth-placed Vipers in next week?s preliminary final after Mascot took out Inner West 8-3

In under 16 girls action premiers Enfield routed Mascot 6-1 to waltz their way to a grand final dance and place the Vipers in a preliminary final contest against fourth-placed Inner West after Allstars clawed their way to a tough 1-0 victory over Boomerangs in the sudden death fixture.
In the under 16 boys Enfield upset premiers Campbelltown 7-4 to steal a grand final place and consign Quake to a preliminary final match-up with the Eagles after Sydney City?s 5-2 dismantling of Inner West in the knockout game.

In under 14 girls action premiers Inner West downed Campbelltown 3-1 to guarantee a grand final spot, and Quake will now tackle Enfield in the preliminary final following the Rovers 5-3 sudden death win over Boomerangs.
In the under 14 boys runaway premiers Inner West edged out Campbelltown 4-3 to make grand final day, with Quake set to play the Eagles in next week?s preliminary final after Sydney City narrowly ousted South Coast?s sole finals representative 2-1.
In under 12 girls action premiers Inner West defeated Mascot 3-1 to advance to the championship decider, leaving the Vipers to face Quake in the preliminary final after fourth-placed Campbelltown knocked out Dural 5-2.

In the under 12 boys premiers Mascot accounted for Dural 4-1 to book their grand final berth while the Warriors meet Enfield in the preliminary final after the Rovers beat Inner West 6-3 in the elimination semi.
So far Inner West have three teams in action on grand final day, Enfield two, and one spot each to Dural (also open men?s this Friday night), Sydney City and Mascot.

By: Dan De Nardi