2014 FFA FUTSAL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
MEDIA RELEASE
Tuesday 14th January 2014

MEN – DAY TWO

South Australia 0 ACT 6 (Michael Reeve 2’, Daniel Bennett 10’, 28’, Callum Smith 11’, Ryan Keir 37’, Andrew Obielgo (og) 39’)

ACT cruised to a second successive win at the FFA National Futsal Championships as they brushed aside South Australia 6-0 in the first match of Day Two of the competition in Canberra. The home team was too fast, too structured and too good for South Australia who to their credit battled to the end and would have scored a fine late consolation goal had ACT stopper Kieran Stroh not dived acrobatically to his left to pull off a superb stop from a Ross Osman strike. By that stage though the game was well and truly up for South Australia who had been hit by a ten minute three goal flurry in the first half. Michael Reeve got the ACT off to the perfect possible start, firing home after only two minutes, his second goal of the competition. After that it was fairly one way traffic as the ACT moved through the gears. Daniel Bennett made it two with an exquisite finish with the outside of his right foot when through one-on-one before Callum Smith added the third barely sixty seconds later, slotting home after Bennett had squared. Bennett added his second of the match eight minutes into the second half before the hosts eased off. Late goals from Ryan Keir, hammering a shot into the net from just outside the area, and a last minute own goal from the unfortunate Andres Obielgo completed the scoring.

NSW Thunder 8 (Jarrod Basger 7’, Jonathan Kontalis 10’, Jordan Guerrero 12’,  22’, Jordan Mundell 18’, Sam Perre 31’, 32’, 35’) Queensland Metro 0

NSW Thunder made sure that they would end the morning session of Day Two on top of the table after swamping Queensland Metro 8-0. Thunder followed up their convincing opening day success over South Australia with another effective display keeping a second clean sheet and scoring at will against Metro, who was playing their first match of the tournament after enjoying the bye last night. It took NSW seven minutes to open their account, Futsalroo Jarrod Basger slotting home his second of the tournament. After that the goals flowed at regular intervals with Jonathan Kontalis (10 minutes) and Jordan Guerrero (12 minutes) extending the advantage to 3-0. The best goal of the first half came close to the half-time whistle as Jordan Mundell finished off an excellent team move with a cheeky back-heel flick that found its way past Brendan Prickett in the Queensland goal via the foot of the post. It took Thunder just two minutes to add to that tally in the second half as Guerrero notched his third goal in two matches with another composed finish to a slick move. The scene was set for Sam Perre to showcase his ability, the outstanding tricky playmaker bagging a four minute hat-trick with three wonderfully taken efforts including a half-volley, and two mid-range thunderbolts after Goran Ljuboja had held up play.

ACT 5 (Trent Flanigan 10’, 39’, Robbie Cattanach 31’, Callum Smith 36’, Angelo Konstantinou 40’) NSW Thunder 6 (Clayton Musumeci 3’, Jordan Mundell 17’, 18’, Jordan Guerrero 23’, Jarrod Basger 33’, Mark Symington 40’)

A goal with the final kick of the match from Mark Symington gave NSW Thunder a remarkable 6-5 victory over the ACT in a sensational match that puts the Thunder in prime position to finish on top of the ladder. Symington struck with seconds remaining after the ACT had recovered from 5-2 down with two goals in a minute to draw level. Trent Flanigan blasted home the first and when Angelo Konstantinou welted home a free shot with twenty seconds to play a draw seemed inevitable. But them Symington struck. Earlier the Thunder had roared into a 4-1 lead playing some tactical futsal that saw them counter the ACT at pace and utilising the full width of the court. Clayton Musumeci had opened the scoring only for Flanigan to level in the 10^th minute. A double from Jordan Mundell had Thunder in front by the break and when Jordan Guerrero extended the lead to 4-1 the Thunder looked home and dry. The ACT weren’t done though and Robbie Cattanach gave them a glimmer of hope which Jarrod Basger appeared to have extinguished when he guided home after a deft run to make it 5-2. Callum Smith cracked home from the angle to start the fight back before the last minute drama that saw Thunder come away with a positive result from one of the best pool matches seen in the tournament for many a year.

Queensland Metro 1 (Brian Quan 28’) Victoria 2 (Miguel Barrigos 6’, Konrad Machoy 18’)

Victoria claimed a much-needed victory to keep their semi-final hopes alive as they squeezed past Queensland Metro 2-1 in an exciting clash. Needing to win to keep themselves in the top four Victoria got off to a good start and proceeded to dominate possession and court territory denying Queensland any significant time on the ball. As such it was little surprise when Victoria went in front on six minutes. A sweeping attack culminated in Miguel Barrigos getting on the end of a cross-shot to slide home from inside the area. With Metro pushing for a way back, Victoria continued to bide their time and doubled the lead a couple of minutes before the interval as Konrad Machoy found the room inside the final third to slip a shot past Brendan Prickett for his first goal of the tournament. Leading 2-0 at the break the match was there for the taking for the Victorians who defended superbly with Jonathan Barrientos a shining light. But Metro rode the storm and emerged as a better side in the final quarter of the match. They gave themselves every chance of gaining a reward when they plundered their first goal of the tournament when Brian Quan smuggled the ball home. With six minutes to play Luis Salazar saw his effort bounce back off the post with Christos Apostalakis in the Victorian goal beaten but Victoria held on for the win.

TABLE

POS	TEAM	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	NSW Thunder	3	3	0	0	18	5	+13	9
2	ACT	3	2	0	1	14	8	+6	6
3	Victoria	2	1	0	1	4	4	0	3
4	Queensland Metro	2	0	0	2	1	10	-9	0
5	South Australia	2	0	0	2	0	10	-10	0

LEADING SCORERS

4 Jordan GUERRERO (NSW Thunder)
3 Robbie CATTANACH, Trent FLANIGAN (ACT), Jarrod BASGER, Jordan MUNDELL, Sam PERRE (NSW Thunder)
2 Daniel BENNETT,Michael REEVE, Callum SMITH (ACT), Clayton MUSUMECI (NSW Thunder)
1 Ryan KEIR, Angelo KONSTANTINOU (ACT), Jonathan KONTALIS, Lev LEWIS, Mark SYMINGTON (NSW Thunder), Brian QUAN (Queensland), Maxim AVRAM, Jason BARRIENTOS, Miguel BARRIGOS, Konrad MACHOY (Victoria), own GOAL