Courtesy: The Herald On Line

Indoor soccer teams do battle in Bay for title

By Lonwabo Haya

THE Safa Continental national indoor soccer tournament is under way at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University‘s Missionvale campus in an effort to generate momentum for the Fifa 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Safa‘s provincial president of indoor soccer, Adrian Padayachee, said: “The level of skill is remarkable and the teams are fighting it out for the top spot as national champions.”

Futsal, as indoor soccer is known, is fast-paced and energetic, and involves a high level of skill.

KwaZulu Natal, Eastern Cape, Free State and Western Province are among the favourites to win.

The tournament hosts 10 teams – one from each of the nine provinces and a team made up of Continental Tyres employees.

Padayachee said that at the end of the tournament 15 players would be chosen to make up a South African national futsal squad.

He said the national body was looking at indoor soccer as a way to develop and nurture talent for 2010, and that Safa intended to make futsal professional by starting a national league.

Indoor soccer was a big part of soccer development in leading soccer nations like Brazil and futsal reigning champs Spain, he said.

The Eastern Cape team has played two matches, drawing 1-1 against KwaZulu Natal and beating Northern Cape 3-1. Eastern Cape coach James Smith said: “The sport is still relatively new. Most people don‘t know about it, but it is getting there.”

He said the fundamentals of the game were the same as for normal soccer, but the difference was there were five players per side instead of 11. The game was 20 minutes a half, there was no off-side, no throw-in but a kick-in, no goal kick but a throw-in, and the ball was slightly heavier.

Smith said there were now a lot of sponsors coming into futsal and this would lead to development starting at junior level.

Eastern Cape captain Anthony Jacobs praised his team for their performance so far. He said the 12 players chosen from regional play-offs had been “playing together for only one week but the guys are playing very well together”.

Meanwhile, a power failure stopped a game between Eastern Cape and North West yesterday. Thus today there will be playoffs in the morning, and two semi-finals, starting at 3pm.

Tomorrow there‘ll be third and fourth place play-offs, after which women‘s futsal teams Callies and Aspen Warriors will clash in a curtain-raiser for the final of the tournament.

Padayachee appealed to soccer lovers in Nelson Mandela Bay to turn out in their numbers and support the teams.



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