SELECT Futsal Premier League 2 – Round 4 Open Men’s Preview
We have a wonderful weekend of futsal ahead, with a derby match, top of the table clash between Boomerangs FS and Sydney City Eagles whilst Phoenix Futsal Club look to remain perfect and West City Crusaders and South Coast Taipans battle for their first points of the season!
Match of the Round: SD Raiders vs Raiders Futsal Club, Saturday 20 October, 4:20pm, Fairfield Youth & Leisure Centre
Kicking off this weekend, is a local derby, Raiders Futsal make the short journey to Fairfield, to take on SD Raiders Futsal in the first annual Raiders Cup.
Coming into the contest, Raiders Futsal are buoyed by their first success of the season, defeating West City Crusaders 2-nil, whilst SD Raiders were involved on the wrong side of a goal fest, 8-3 against the undefeated Sydney City Eagles.
SD Raiders games have been a recipe for goals in the opening month, 32 in their three games. They boast some talent in Adrian Monge, John Fahmi and Matthew Barkho to fire them ahead again, to take the bragging rights.
For Raiders Futsal, they sit fifth after their recent win. In contrast, Raiders games has seen five goals scored, so if they can hold the SD Raiders offence, led by captain Goran Ljuboja they can upset the applecart in the first annual Raiders Cup.
For those attending, both sides will be raising funds for 90 minutes for Cancer, with a gold coin donation on entry, if possible!
West City Crusaders vs South Coast Taipans, Saturday 20 October, 5:50pm, Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium
The two sides left without a victory, West City Crusaders and South Coast Taipans clash at the Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium on Saturday evening.
Both sides were last start losers; West City Crusaders fell 2-nil to a clinical Raiders Futsal side as South Coast lost a heartbreaker to the undefeated Phoenix Futsal Club, 4-3 at the tail end of their home run.
Despite their woes, Matthew Mazevski has been a bright spot for the Taipans. He has fired home five goals thus far this season, and against fellow strugglers, Crusaders, they look to get themselves off the duck egg.
Crusaders have toiled hard, but need to find the end product to start to make their move up the competition, especially, in such a condensed season. James Mawein and the side have to find some goals in this knife edge contest.
Boomerangs FS vs Sydney City Eagles, Saturday 20 October, 6:20pm, AIS Training Halls
Home, sweet, home! Boomerangs after being on the road for three weeks head home to the AIS Training Halls, hosting the undefeated Sydney City Eagles on Saturday night.
We’re set up for a mouth-watering contest. Both teams are in prime form headed into the weekend, Sydney City Eagles dispatched SD Raiders, 8-3 and for the home side, they settled for a 2-2 draw against Sydney Futsal Club.
Boomerangs may not have got the result they wanted against Sydney, but their dominance pleased coach Nick Van Aalst, but he reminded the side they need to be clinical with chances against the top sides like Eagles.
It is firing on all cylinders for Sydney City. All their key players have hit the ground running, as Matthew Trotter leads the way in scoring but they’ve shown they can find goals from their whole squad, making for a tough prospect for Boomerangs homecoming.
Phoenix Futsal Club vs Sydney Futsal Club, Saturday 20 October, 7:40pm, Hornsby PCYC
The other undefeated team, Phoenix Futsal Club round off this weekend’s fixtures, welcoming Sydney Futsal Club to Hornsby PCYC, as they aim to remain perfect on the season.
Phoenix Futsal Club showed their grit as they held off a late Taipans fightback, for a 4-3 success to keep themselves 100% on the season. For Sydney Futsal Club, their 2-2 draw with Boomerangs was born of heart and determination as they fended off a second half assault for their first point.
Joshua Mathie continued his hot start to the season with a brace last week, whilst last season’s top scorer, Angus Chance got off the mark. Phoenix’s varied attack makes another tough test for the Sydney side, in trying to bring Phoenix’s unbeaten start to an end.
The visitors were worth their point, goalkeeper Laith Al-Shdifat pulled off a series of impressive saves and if the shot stopper can repeat the dose against Phoenix, and their attack can find their spark, we’re in for an intriguing contest.
-By Justin Davies
