Scottish Open International Futsal Tournament 2004

FC Camelot of Moldova warmed up for UEFA Futsal Champions League duties in the Czech Republic by retaining their Scottish Open trophy at Bells Sports Centre last week.

The holders again went through the event unbeaten, although their League 1 opponents C.S. Rapid and Perth-based team FC Santos both proved tougher opposition than last season. Allied to a stern challenge from FC Argo, also of Moldova, an improved GCLS England side and a spirited performance from Inverness Wanderers the quality of opposition for Camelot improved dramatically this season and their winning margin of only one point over Santos in the Open League event bears witness to this. Indeed, the improvement in the Santos performance in dropping points only to the Champions gives some indication of the raised standards throughout.

The event threw up some excellent games, with 138 goals in 21 games, an average of almost 7 a game, and some excellent team and individual performances.

Inverness Wanderers, currently playing in the newly formed Scottish Futsal League – Inverness, were given a true baptism of fire with the opening fixture of the event against Camelot, but proved they were not going to be fazed by reputations or inexperience in a solid display.

The Highland lads were leading with only a minute to the break but Camelot gave notice of their superior quality with two quick fire scores to turn the game around at half time. The Moldavians experience saw them absorb the Inverness challenge and with goalkeeper Rauzari in imperious form throughout never looked like conceding a second. With Untila adding further goals for Camelot, the Champions started their defence with victory.

The Inverness team eventually finished sixth in the event but this certainly does not do justice to the contribution the team made to the event. Only a last second winner from second placed Santos in their head to head fixture secured three points for the Perth team so the Inverness lads acquitted themselves admirably. Player Coach Scott Mackain had a well-organised unit together for the tournament which can only improve with experience and in Evan MacDonald the Inverness team had the 2004 “Player of the Tournament”.

Perth’s Santos team opened up their challenge missing a number of key players but displayed strength in depth they’ve not previously been able to boast with 2 outstanding performances on the opening night.

Minus Caldow, Gray and Lafferty due to other commitments Santos faced stiff opposition in FC Argo but gave a resilient display to run out comfortable winners. The 5-0 win against the Moldavian team certainly raised a few eyebrows amongst the visiting sides thanks in no small part to the fitness levels displayed by the Perth team.
Skipper Matt Brand got Santos off to a good start neatly deflecting a misplaced shot past the stranded Argo keeper before Hughes (2) Potter and Tainsh completed the win. Key to the victory was the defensive performance with Santos proving difficult to break down thanks to Keast and McGregor and McGillvery in goals displayed his now expected assured performance.

CS Rapid were expected to provide the stiffest challenge to Camelot supremacy and were confident of taking the title from their League opponents. An opening match rout of a below strength Perth Brazil looked to be proof that this might be the case, with Hilotil scoring five in the match. This contributed to his overall total of 13, making him the top goalscorer.

GCLS star Paul Goodhand was again also in prolific form being the only other player to achieve double figures with 10 goals and as expected he was close to winning the “Player of the Tournament” award yet again.

GCLS opening fixture was against Camelot and again the Champions netted four, this time without reply. GCLS possibly had one eye on their second fixture of the evening against Santos, looking for revenge of last seasons defeat.

With GCLS bringing a stronger squad than last year, hopes were high of a victory and with a well-drilled first half performance, lead going into the break. Santos resumed after the interval with a renewed vigour, however, and adapted a more physical pressing style game which brought about almost instant results through Hughes, Tainsh and McGregor.

Inverness were rewarded with a strong performance against Argo with a point after 4 goals were shared as play closed for the day.

The second days play brought a number of top class games, with the opening fixture providing the first shock with Rapid holding Camelot to a draw, meaning the first ever dropped points for the Moldavian team, and reinforcing the Rapid claims of supremacy.

However, the Rapid challenge faltered with defeat to Argo in their next match. With Santos snatching a last gasp win against Inverness this meant that the Santos versus Rapid game had added pressure.

A tremendous Santos performance resulted in a 4-2 win for the Perth team leaving the Santos team as the only real challengers to the Camelot for the title.

With challengers falling by the wayside, the tournaments last fixture between Santos and Camelot turned out to be a straight decider. A draw would have been enough for the home team, thanks to Rapid drawing with Camelot, but a result for Santos never really looked on the cards as Camelot stepped up a gear and proved their quality with a high tempo performance. Camelot lead 2-0 with a couple of minutes to go but capitalised on Santos efforts to claw themselves back into the game with a quick breakaway goal and a 10 metre penalty, completing a 4-0 win.

It says much about the improvement in British Futsal that Camelot were required to increase their level of performance against Santos, GCLS and Inverness in each game and with the Moldavians planning their assault on the UEFA Champions League there cannot be long before British sides are competing at this level favourably.

Competitions such as the Scottish Open and the forthcoming British League, The Futsal Premier League, can only serve to improve the game across the UK in preparation for competition in events further afield.

Results

Camelot - Inverness 4-1
Santos - Argo 5-0
Perth Brazil - Rapid 0-12
Camelot - GCLS 4-0
Argo - Inverness 2-2
Santos - GCLS 4-1
Camelot - Rapid 1-1
Perth Brazil - GCLS 2-6
Santos - Inverness 4-3
Perth Brazil - Camelot 1-7
Rapid - Argo 2-3
Perth Brazil - Inverness 3-4
Santos - Rapid 4-2
Argo - GCLS 5-2
Rapid - Inverness 12-1
Perth Brazil - Santos 1-5
Camelot - Argo 3-1
GCLS - Inverness 6-2
Camelot - Santos 4-0
Rapid - GCLS 5-3
Perth Brazil - Argo 2-9


Final Standing
1. FC Camelot ------------------6-5-1-0-23--4-16
2. FC Santos Perth -------------6-5-0-1-22-11-15
3. CS Rapid --------------------6-3-1-2-34-12-10
4. Argo ------------------------6-3-1-2-20-16-10
5. GCLS ------------------------6-2-0-4-18-23-6
6. Inverness Wdrs --------------6-1-1-4-12-31-4
7. Perth Brazil ----------------6-0-0-6--9-43-0