Courtesy: Welsh FA Web Site


Saints lose in historical Futsal Cup opener

A young team from The New Saints, who average just nineteen years of age, made history on Tuesday in Geneva, in becoming the first ever Welsh Futsal team to play in UEFA competition.

Having won the inaugural FAW Futsal Cup in June, TNS became eligible to ensure that Wales is now on the UEFA Futsal map, for the increasingly popular small-sided version of Football.

Drawn in a group which consists of three specialist Futsal teams from Lithuania, Ireland and host country Switzerland, Mike Digwood’s young Saints knew that they faced a very tough challenge, having played less than ten Futsal matches in their careers.

They opened the tournament with a 9-3 defeat against Nautara Kaunas, but despite the obvious difference in experience, the scoreline didn’t reflect the true story of the game. The youngsters fitness in the final ten minutes created many late chances, which could have made the score more respectable. The fact that the number of shots on goal was 12-9 in the Lithuanians advantage exemplifies this.
Saints’ player-coach Eric Ramsey was credited with scoring the first ever Welsh goal in UEFA Futsal competition as he applied the final touch on the stroke of half-time after Tom Allen had got on the end of a long Alex Ramsey clearance.

Trailing 9-1 with over eleven minutes to play, the Saints showed great character and fitness to ensure that skipper Alex Ramsey didn’t concede another and two very well worked goals from Naim Arsan and Adam Jenkins were well deserved. Arsan, who looked dangerous on the left against a tiring defence, finished well on the break after Scott Quigley’s pass and a sweet Jenkins volley almost ripped through the net just after. There were further chances for the Saints, but they were unable to convert any more of them.

They now face the Geneva Futsal team this evening, which is a side that consists of almost all Brazilian players, before Friday’s finale against EID Dublin, who are also almost entirely Brazilian. Those two met in their opening match on Tuesday evening and shared the points in a hugely entertaining 3-3 draw, played out behind the soundtrack of a live samba band.

Saints' Squad: (Subs Bench in Italics)
Alex Ramsay (GK) (C), Sean Ellis, Eric Ramsay, Thomas Allen, Panayiotis Haralambous, George Austin (GK), Nicholas Jones, Adam Jenkins, Scott Quigley, Naim Arsan






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