Futsal Premier League Open Men’s Semi-Finals Preview
All roads lead to Sydney Olympic Park in the Futsal Premier League Open Men competition for semi-final action. With two exciting fixtures ahead, let’s take a look at how these sides line up.
Mascot Vipers v Eastern Suburbs Hakoah Futsal Club; Saturday 16 December, 4:30pm, Sydney Olympic Park Sports Halls
Our first semi-final of the weekend sees a local derby between our premiers Mascot Vipers and Eastern Suburbs Hakoah.
The in-form side coming into the finals, Mascot Vipers won five straight games in the last month of the season. Scoring 33 goals in the process, they are in hot goalscoring form ahead of this one this weekend.
Last weekend, they put nine past the Macarthur Quake on the road, but the most impressive victory of this streak came against Enfield Allstars the weekend before. A key man in this run has been Ethan De Melo who has 16 goals this season, while Mikah Chilas has perhaps been the breakout star across the league.
Led by Sasha Chilas in goal, they will be favourites for this one but as we’ve seen across the season, anyone can beat anyone.
Their opponents Eastern Suburbs Hakoah know they are in with a shot going into this one. Though results have been a bit inconsistent across the past month, the performance level has still been high from Steve Tzanakes’ side.
Last weekend, they did just about enough to book their spot in the final’s series with a 5-5 draw with Dural Warriors. In that one, they held a 5-2 lead but saw it disappear before holding on late. They are strong across the pitch but look out for the likes of New Zealand international Adam Paulsen alongside Jonathon Lynch and Cesar Perego.
A big game ahead of us, Mascot Vipers emerged victorious the last time these two met.
Previous Meetings: Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 2-6 Mascot Vipers (Round 12), Mascot Vipers 5-5 Eastern Suburbs Hakoah (Round 5).
Mountain Majik Futsal Club v Enfield Allstars; Saturday 16 December, 4:30pm, Sydney Olympic Park Sports Halls
Mountain Majik take on Enfield Allstars with a place in Sunday’s grand final up for grabs.
Mountain Majik will have a point to prove after just missing out on the premiership this season. They led the league for a long length of the season before losing two games over the long weekend finishing with ten wins in their fourteen fixtures.
The Majik have very much been the entertainers this season with 79 goals this season (27 more than the Allstars). Leading that charge has been Anthony Haddad who finished the season with 23 goals, 6 ahead of teammate Jordan Guerreiro. While Futsalroo Jamie Dib also plays an important role in Brett Hewit’s side.
This one could really depend on which Enfield Allstars side shows up this weekend. Yeah, it’s safe to say they fell over line this season with three straight defeats in as many weeks losing twice over the weekend before conceding 7 goals in ten minutes against the Boomerangs.
It’s hard to take anything from that one however considering they didn’t field basically their whole open men’s squad. Shervin Adeli has scored 12 goals this season while Peter Grozos has impressed over the past month. At their best, they can compete with anyone, but they’ll need to improve on their recent showings.
Mountain Majik have had the better of these two sides this season, will that continue in this one this weekend?
Previous Meetings: Mountain Majik 6-2 Enfield Allstars (Round 9), Enfield Allstars 5-7 Mountain Majik (Round 2)
*The 2023 Futsal Premier League Open Men’s Grand Final will be streamed live on Football NSW’s Futsal Facebook and Football NSW’s YouTube page.
By Justin Smith
