Courtesy: Welsh FA


Saints bow out of UEFA Futsal Cup

The New Saints have bowed out of the UEFA Futsal Cup following a third defeat of the competition in Friday's finale against EID Futsal from Dublin.

The inaugural FAW Futsal Cup Champions lost 11-7 against the Irish Champions, whose team was almost entirely made up of Brazilians who have grown up playing the game. In comparison, the young Saints team have played less than a dozen games of futsal in their lives.

Going into the game on the back of two straight defeats against Nautara Kaunas (Lithuania) and hosts Geneva Futsal, Mike Digwood's team were playing for pride at the Salle Henri Durant and they certainly achieved that. Their opponents needed to win by a large margin to win the group and progress to the next Qualifying Round, but didn't expect the spirited display from the young Welshmen that they faced.

It was 6-3 at the interval to the Irish, with the Saints goals coming from Alex Jenkins and a Barry Haralambous double, but it was the second-half performance, when confidence grew that TNS played their best futsal of the competition. With skipper Alex Ramsay in fine form in goal, ensuring that TNS were always within touching distance, the second-half was only a 5-4 deficit as Ramsay's older brother Eric, showed what a great future he has in the game.

As the Irish conceded five fouls in the second-half, Ramsay confidently converted two foul-penalties and then claimed his hat-trick with a classy shot from inside his half, as the Irish pushed forward for more goals.

The vast improvement made by the Saints during their five-day experience is exemplified by that fact that this evening's opponents drew 3-3 with Group winners Geneva earlier in the week.

TNS were the first FAW Futsal Cup winners in June and as a result qualified for the annual UEFA Competition. The FAW Futsal Cup will be held again this season and the winners will again represent Wales in next season's UEFA Futsal Cup.




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