Courtesy: All Africa


South Africa/Mozambique: Futsal National Team to Prepare Friendly Matches

9 April 2012

The South African Futsal National Team is in camp in preparation for two international friendly matches against neighbouring country Mozambique. The two international friendly matches will be played in Mozambique on the 14th and 15th April 2012.

The squad has been in camp since Sunday (08 April 2012) at the Ngwenyama Lodge in Mpumalanga. The matches will also be used to prepare the team for the FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifiers later this year.

The FIFA Futsal World Cup is scheduled to take place in Thailand from 1 - 18 November 2012.

The South Africans have already played against Mozambique in two international friendly matches last year, losing both encounters. Despite the losses, South Africa's head coach Quinton Allies believes the upcoming matches will help a lot.

"Going into the friendly matches against Mozambique, I am hoping to identify key players for the national squad as we prepare to take part in the World Cup qualifiers later this year. Mozambique is a lot more advanced in the game of Futsal and they are sitting at a higher world ranking than us, so I think this would be a good step for us towards shaping us up for the qualifiers and other international matches that will be coming up," said Allies.

The head coach is hoping to create a bigger pool of players for the national team through the expansion of the game of Futsal around the country.

"The training of Futsal coaches and referees that we recently underwent in Johannesburg with FIFA instructors will surely put us in a better position than we were the last time we played a match. We are hoping to see this game expand around the country and we are confident we will build a national Futsal league where we will have a bigger and stronger base of players that will be used to create a large pool of players for the national team. We have the resources in this country, and with the work and cooperation of the Futsal coaches and referees, I believe we can achieve the goal of growing this game in South Africa and compete against top nations in the world," added Allies.

The Futsal National team depart for Mozambique on Friday (13 April 2012).




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