Kickers Futsal - The Brazilian Way

An excellent start in the FA Futsal League: Kickers 8 x 2 Baltic By Victor De Martino In a Galego's magnificent exhibition, in which he scored four times, Kickers Futsal Club defeated FC Baltic by 8 goals to 2 in their first match for the FA Futsal League 2009, the most important England's futsal tournament. The match was played last Sunday, 15th of February, in Welwyn Garden City, which is situated at 40 kilometres from Central London. Both teams are playing for the South division of the championship, which includes nine contestants. There are also the North and the Midlands divisions and, in total, 23 clubs fighting for the national title.

Both teams started the match marking just in their half-court and analysing the adversaries' tactics. Before 10 minutes, when the Kickers was keeping the control of the ball for most of the time, Baltic opened the scoring in a counter-attack. Minutes later, after a beautiful individual dribbling, Galego passed the ball to Felipe, whom was knocked down by the goalkeeper. The equalizer goal was scored by Galego in a penalty. The same player was responsible for Kickers' second goal.

However, after finding space in Kickers' defence, the Baltic equalized again. When the first half was close to its end, Victor Rocha's precise right-shoot gave back the advantage for Kickers. After that, Baltic committed its sixth and seventh faults. Then, Galego and Felipe scored the fourth and the fifth goals for Kickers, respectively, in ten-metre shoots.

For the second half, the coaches Sam Sandri and Fernando Procianoy – Rogério de Oliveira, the manager, is in Brazil – were mostly concerned with the defensive mistakes. Their explanation during the interval was successful, because, despite Baltic's efforts, Kickers managed to avoid goals in the second half. Baltic tried to play with the goalkeeper and to give pressure against Kickers, but the strong defensive system and the several Giba's great saves stopped them. When the experienced goalkeeper was replaced for James, the young English player proved his value for the team. The debuting goalkeeper also did hard saves. The most impressive one was of a free-kick at less then one metre from the penalty area without any barrier. With such a impenetrable defence, Kickers was capable of scoring more three times, especially in counter-attacks. Victor Rocha, Banana and Galego defined the scoring.

After the match, Banana explained the importance of this victory for the club's objectives. “Last year, we started the League with some negative results. This season, however, our first step was excellent. Our team is in a much better situation now”, said the number 10 player. Kickers will play again for the FA Futsal League in 1st of March against the Deportivo QM.

Before that, the team sponsored by the pub Pig and Whistle will probably play again for the Futsal Super League, in Leyton.








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