Courtesy: The Advertiser - Bendigo


Futsal stars impress

by Nino Bucci

11/03/2009

BENDIGO’S best female futsal players have tested their skill against Victoria’s elite in a gala exhibition match.

The Football Federation Victoria under 19 youth women’s team and the BASL Futsal Vipers All-Stars clash took place on Monday at Flora Hill stadium.

With a host of national and state representative players in their squad, the BASL side hoped to be able to at least match it with their opponents.

But the FFV managed to win comfortably, dominating from the outset in the 60-minute showdown.

BASL coach Peter Richardson said despite the loss, the side had benefited enormously from the match.

“It was a fabulous experience, and really great of the FFV team to come up,’’ he said.

“They brought up a whole squad and really played it as a serious game, which was great because that’s what I was wanting.

“It was really a valuable experience for our girls.’’

Richardson said his charges struggled against the bigger and more experienced FFV line-up, especially considering few of them had played futsal in recent weeks.

“We played the match over 20 minute thirds and our girls found it difficult to keep up to start with,’’ Richardson said.

“But in the final 20 minutes, I just told them that because we only had 20 minutes left, that I wanted to see them chase everything down, to not give them any space, and to see a Bendigo player right on them every time they had the ball.

“It was almost man-on-man, and we really started to improve and actually scored two or three goals in that last third while keeping them scoreless, which was quite a feat considering they’d scored 10 or 11 goals up until then.’’

Richardson praised FFV staff that assisted with the day.

The staff, including Mark Torcaso, Ben Shelton, Jack Dugonjic, Dietmar Schaffner and Rod Salas were involved in coaching and refereeing the day.







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