Courtesy: Sheffield Telegraph


Sheffield closing the gap

Thu Sep 16

Sheffield FC Futsal came agonisingly close to ending the fast-growing sport’s north-south divide in the prestigious FA Futsal Cup competition.

They finally had to settle for third place after a thrilling three days of futsal at the English Institute of Sport.

The city teamm’s hopes of breaking the national dominance of London-based Spartans and Helevicia was halted when they bowed out 4-2 in their semi-final against Spartans after extra-time. Many people felt this could be Sheffield’s time as the Londoners had lost one of their star players, Bruno Vitorino to fellow semi-finalists Team Unum before the tournament, which proved costly as he went on to be voted Player of the Tournament and also topped the scoring charts with 13 goals.

Ben Mortlock gave them an early lead but a dubious free-kick after what seemed a clean sliding tackle by James Cook, resulted in a Spartans equaliser in the ninth minute and a minute later they took the lead via the penalty spot. Sheffield dominated possession in the second half but were unable to capitalise on this until the 14th minute when Portuguese player Joel Rocha levelled the match up once more. However Spartans experience showed in extra-time with two breakaway goals although they were unable to stop National Play-Off champions Helvecia from completing the double and clinching their third consecutive Futsal Cup after a 3-2 defeat in the final

Sheffield eventually secured third place with victory over Team Unum in the third/fourth play off match - the furthest they had ever reached in the competition.

They had started strongly in their qualifying group with a 6-1 victory over Four Star but then dipped to a 4-1 defeat against Helvecia. Sheffield faced Manchester in the quarter-finals and the tight, tense tie was finally settled in the final minute via a controversial goal from Rocha when his mazy run ended with a shot which hit the underside of the bar and bounced down, seemingly over the line. Manchester players complained profusely but the second referee gave the goal.


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