Courtesy: The FA.com

Wolves claim the prize

Monday, 09 July 2007

The FA Umbro Futsal Cup
Final Tournament
Friday 6 - Sunday 8 July 2007
English Institute of Sport, Sheffield

The FA Umbro Futsal Cup has a new name on it this morning as Ipswich Wolves became Champions for the first time with a 6–4 victory over Vaughans.

The team made of players of Portuguese origin won the title playing exciting free flowing Futsal that entertained the crowds at the English Institute of Sport throughout the three days of the Finals tournament.

Manager Jorge Ribeiro said his side were delighted with victory: "We have been training three times a week for the last year to help us prepare and we are delighted to be going into the UEFA cup in 2008 to represent England."

Losing finalists Vaughans added hugely to The Final and equalised three times to keep the game closely balanced until the closing stages. They were able to field a squad that included five former England internationals and three current players.

Of great interest to the crowds was the performance of Alex Sykes. Having been dropped from Graeme Dell’s England squad earlier this year, he finished as top scorer with 15 goals and was voted ‘Player of the Tournament’. With Dell as an onlooker this was a persuasive case for a recall.

Vaughan’s won through to The Final via a tense penalty shoot out against current holders London White Bear. White Bear play in the UEFA Cup in August in a qualifying tournament in which they will need to overcome the Champions of Slovenia and Andorra.

Tranmere Victoria’s quest for the title will have to wait another year as once again they fell at the Semi-Final stage. Losing 2-1 to Ipswich Wolves with twenty seconds to go, Tranmere were awarded a ten metre penalty only for the competition’s outstanding keeper Bruno Figueiredo to save low to his left put the Wolves through.

Chippenham won the plate competition defeating Preston 8-6 in an exciting Final. The Brazilian challenge from Kickers and London United once again failed to materialise despite playing some excellent Futsal in the qualifying round. Last year’s finalist Baltic appear to be an ageing side and will need to recruit new blood if they are to challenge once again.

The 2007 Futsal Cup also saw the introduction of a Women’s competition and the Semi-Finals of the 15-team competition were keenly contested with a number of England Youth internationals on show. Leicester City’s Rachael Williams was in impressive form throughout and won both the Golden Boot competition and 'player of the tournament'.

However Leicester City lost out to TNS Shropshire 2-4 in the Semi-Final whilst Watford Ladies squeaked through in a penalty shoot-out against an excellent Sheffield and Hallamshire U16 County team.

The Final was a cagey affair with the teams producing the only 0–0 scoreline of the entire tournament in normal time. However in extra-time the superior squad strength of Watford came into play and two goals were enough to make them the first ever FA Women’s Futsal Champions.

In the plate tournament Myerscroft College from Preston defeated Selby Town on penalties despite Selby having recovered courageously from 2-5 down with five minutes to go. Other notable performances came from the England Women’s Deaf team that gained invaluable experience for the forthcoming World Championships in Bulgaria and the British Women’s Muslim Futsal Team who won the Fairplay award.

Elsewhere the championship featured eight youth category tournaments involving fifty six teams with representatives from ten counties. It was clear from some of the performances that a number of these teams are beginning to specialise in Futsal, which bodes well for the future of the game.

Preparation for the 2008 Tournament will begin from October 1 2007 when The FA will advertise for League organisers to come forward to organise qualifying competitions and tournaments. More information will appear here on TheFA.com later this year.




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