Courtesy: David Brand

Stand up and be proud Samoa

Manumea Futsal produced another rousing performance and their best of the tournament so far in making Australia fight every inch of the way to secure a victory. The 5-0 scoreline did not reflect the overall play with Samoa having the better of the opportunities in the first half.

Australia opened the scoring after 3 minutes with a well taken shot following a dribble but not the start Samoa wanted and again a bad goal defensively to concede. However Manumea fought back strongly and 3 one on ones with the Australian keeper were blown and when Junior Michael hit the post again it seemed it would not be Samoa’s day. Australia called a time out to try to reorganise as Samoa were causing the Aussies numerous problems on the break.

In a game played at a fast pace neither side could take advantage of opportunities and at half time Australia led by the slender I goal margin which so easily could have been a deficit.

Australia came out firing in the second half and after 5 minutes poor tracking of a runner at a corner left for an easy shot and goal. Manumea kept taking the game to Australia but slowly the superior experience and professionalism was beginning to take a grip on the game. Tempers began to flair up and in this period Australia scored on 3 more occasions. The battling Samoans did no give up but eventually Australia ran out comfortable winners on the score sheet but most certainly a score line that flattered and they knew they had been in a tough game.

Despite another defeat Manumea can stand tall and be proud of a gutsy performance against the Oceania powerhouse. Today they complete their fixtures with a game against New Zealand at 6.30pm local time.

National Coach David Brand was again full of praise for his battling warriors who following their traditional Siva Tau did not take a backward step during the whole game. Well done Samoa!

“This has to be the best performance of any Samoan team against Australia at a senior level and I am a proud man tonight,” he said.

“Maybe it wasn’t pretty but we gave them a run for their money but in the end the far superior experience all round and professionalism finally secured the result. Once again missed opportunities in front of goal and some poor defending cost us dearly.”

“We lost our composure when the Aussies became intimidating and unfortunately the officials did not pick this up. No complaints though as we have to learn to cope with this at this level and I wish them all good luck for the future.”

“We now go away and build for four years hence, when if we continue to develop we will be a far different proposition for all teams and may just have a surprise up our sleeve.”