Courtesy: Australian Jewish News


Maccabi futsal team gets another finals chance

by David Weiner

THE Maccabi-Hakoah futsal senior team was pipped 4-2 by Sydney Benfica in the NSW Super League finals series on Saturday night and will face the Botany Bay pirates in a do-or-die clash this weekend.

The first-team came into the match with an imposing record, including a 7-2 win over Benfica in November, but started nervously.

Benfica cashed in on some sloppy Maccabi passing to take an early lead, before extending the margin minutes later, rifling the ball home to set up an early advantage.

But a two-goal deficit in futsal was not enough to faze a side that amassed 74 goals at over five a game this season, and the Blues finally started to string a few passes together.

Antony Tow upped the tempo when he battled through illness to enter the fray, Gareth Nar steadied the ship, composing his side as they started to knock the ball around, while Doron Pozniak kept probing for an opening to unlock the Benfica defence.

The Blues' opener came through target-man Jordan Mundell, who got on the end of a speculative pass and finished with precision.

At the other end, keeper John Myers kept his side in the contest with a string of one-on-one saves, pouncing quickly on anything that entered his area.

A bit of Mundell magic had the Blues all square, after he held off several Benfica defenders on a marauding charge down the left, before teeing the ball up for Sam Ozana to slot home.

The second half didn't go to plan for Maccabi, who ran out of legs as they found themselves working overtime scrambling in defence.

As they pushed forward in numbers they were caught out badly on the counter-attack, with Benfica cashing in on their pace to nick two goals on the break.

Mundell came awfully close to grabbing a goal, but the Blues didn't provide the striker with enough support through the match and lacked penetration.

Myers was the busier of the two keepers, and pulled off a number of top saves in the second half.

Earlier, the youth side bowed out after an 8-7 defeat to Enfield Rovers.

They ran into a skilful opposition who also burst clear with an early 2-0 lead that rattled the Maccabi youngsters.

Ironically, stand-in goalkeeper Ozana scored a brace of fiercely driven free kicks that relaxed the youngsters and brought the contest alight.

It laid the platform for a spirited comeback, with Mundell nicking the ball home for the third goal before setting up Adam Friedman to tie the ledger at 4-4 at the break.

It looked as though the pendulum had swung when Andy Kanchik opened the scoring in the second period, but Enfield made the most of the end-to-end action with a four-goal spree that should've put Maccabi to bed.

But the young Blues never went away, and Mundell and Friedman, the two most likely players on court, scored two late, late goals in a frenetic final passage, but Enfield had done just enough to survive.









Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com