Dural Warriors fall in last ditch effort at AFC Futsal Championship Qualifiers
Football NSW Futsal Premier and hummel F-League Champions Dural Warriors have completed their journey in Malaysia after falling at the last hurdle at the recent AFC Futsal Championship qualifiers.
Rob Varela’s squad went down 6-3 to Thai side Thai Son Nam FC which all but ended the Warriors dream. Goals by Tobias Seeto and a double from Jarrod Basger were not enough to give the Australian side the victory.
On their progress in Malaysia, the Warriors went down to the same team Thai Son Nam FC in their first match of the qualifiers 6-2 with Greg Giovenali and Adam Bradley scoring but Varela’s side recorded their first win in their second clash taking out Indonesian side Pelindo 4-2. Goals from Blake Rosier, Nathan Niski, Zach Caruana and a penalty from Giovenali was what separated them from their Indonesian opponents.
The semi-final was a tough outing for Dural as they were outclassed 8-1 by eventual winners Thai side Chonburi Bluewave GH Bank with the sole goal coming from Jarrod Basger.
Varela was philosophical with his time in Malaysia but believed it was an experience that the squad will never forget and that better things were set for the Warriors.
“The dream is over for this year.
“When you play in a non-air-conditioned venue with temperatures around 40 degrees you know you are really up against it.
“When a player gets sent off for some “indiscretion” in a tackle but you get the ensuing goal throw you start to wonder.
“When the coach gets asked to leave the technical area because he threw the goalkeeper shirt to a player coming off the court to start the power play, you begin to wonder.
“When their goalkeeper goes down in agony with the ball out of play, “dies” for about 3 or 4 minutes, gets stretchered off but comes back straight on you start to wonder
“Once we get over the disappointment of not qualifying we will realise that we have some much to be proud of and there is also so many areas that we need to improve on.
“Hopefully we will all be better players and coaches for the experience.
“It was fantastic to see the great support we received from home we are just so sorry we could not carry it through, but we gave it a good go,” Varela stated to Futsal4All.
