Courtesy: The FA.com


Futsal fever

Friday, 04 July 2008

The FA UMBRO Futsal Cup Finals take place this weekend, as a total of 32 teams from both the men’s and women’s game converge on the English Institute Of Sport in Sheffield to contest the relevant titles on offer.

It has been a long road to The Finals for many of the teams, with qualification taking place over the last few months across the country.

This year’s Final should also provide an indication as to the rise in standard of Futsal in England, with many of the participating teams also taking part in The FA Regional Futsal Leagues.

Beginning in March, the North, South and Midlands Leagues have pitched the best teams in the country against each other and The FA Umbro Futsal Cup will provide the first opportunity for the best teams from each region to lock horns. The qualifying process has also thrown up some new teams who disposed of well regarded Regional League teams to secure their place in The Finals.

The favourites for The Men’s Cup are the most likely the holders Ipswich Wolves. Manager Jorge Ribiero has assembled a formidable team from the Portuguese community in Suffolk and the Wolves will use this competition as preparation for the first round of the UEFA Futsal Cup which begins in August.

They will be desperate to progress to the later rounds of that competition in order to test themselves against the professional teams of Europe.

London White Bear appear best placed to challenge the Wolves, as they have dominated The FA Southern League this year and once again have assembled a formidable squad of Eastern European and talented English players.

Tranmere Victoria have often faltered at the Semi-Final stage in recent years but are once again in fine form going into these Finals with a 5-2 victory over Manchester Futsal Club confirming their leadership of the Northern League.

Baltic have twice reached The Final of this competition and return to Sheffield this year with a younger and fitter team. Baltic have the knack of finding a ‘winning game’ against showier opponents and will be a danger once again this time around.

Futsal origins in South America should mean that Brazilian teams start with an advantage, but they have so far failed to progress beyond the quarter final stage in this competition. However, Helvecia from London appear to be a genuine contender this year, with Raoni Medina who has played professional Football in Asia and Europe, and alongside Cristiano Ronaldo in the Sporting Lisbon B Team, having proved a valuable asset this season.

Also from the London region, Corinthians come into these Finals having knocked out last year’s finalist Vaughans in a regional qualifier.

The worldwide appeal of Futsal is also reflected in the Birmingham Tigers team, who have a number of Iranian players with Davood Aria a former international for the Asian Champions.

Team United, also from Birmingham, have had an inconsistent season but will benefit from the development of a youth team that impressed at the recent FA Youth Futsal Festival.

Various Universities have also embraced Futsal and Loughborough University have a place in Sheffield courtesy of victory in the BUSA Championships. With a world famous reputation for sporting excellence, the University side is a potential threat to any team.

Worcester University have similarly taken up the game and will be looking for England international Shane Gill to help them progress.

Sheffield has developed the game of Futsal more than any other location in the country and two teams from the host city will be represented in The Finals.

Sheffield FC were established in 1857 and are the oldest football club in the world and they have now supported the establishment of a new Futsal section (left) that competes in the Northern Regional League.

Meanwhile, the Sheffield and Hallamshire CFA have assembled a team of England internationals and foreign talent, with former Haitian international Pierre Mercier the most exotic.

Manchester Futsal Club will be making their first appearance in The FA Futsal Cup since forming in April 2006. The club have quickly progressed from the Manchester FA Futsal League to lead The FA Futsal Conference North. The North are also represented by Hull Futsal Club, who have the ability to beat any team if they can bring their best side to the competition.

The two qualifying rounds for the competition pitched teams from new leagues against well established Futsal sides. The Newham Genesis have recruited players from one of the country’s most successful five-a-side teams and it will be of interest to see whether these talented players can transfer their skills to the more tactical and skilful game of Futsal. Watch out for Ferrad Sofiane whose free-styling technique has made him a legend in the five-a-side world.

I Security from Essex shocked many people when they took one of the last qualifying places ahead of more experienced Futsal teams and they will have little fear of reputations going into The Finals this weekend.

In the Women’s competition, many of the teams are an unknown quantity but Watford Ladies will remain the team to beat. Last year, the Hornets won both The FA UMBRO Fives and The FA Futsal Cup and then went on to have a very credible first season in The FA Women’s Premier League.

TNS Ladies had a great tournament last year with a small squad and the addition of some new players could make all the difference for them. The competition has also attracted the interest of Yeovil Town, Rushden and Diamonds and West Ham United.

Bino United bring together players from the Birmingham and Aston Villa Ladies squads, so it will be of interest to see how these eleven-a-side teams tackle the technical and tactical demands of the small sided game.

The FA’s network of Women’s Development Officers has initiated a range of local leagues to produce qualifiers and both Cambridge Regional College and South Downs College will compete against the reputations of established Women’s Futsal Teams.

Team United are part of a thriving Futsal club and won the BBC ‘Your Game Tournament’ earlier this year so should be regarded as one of the favourites.

Tranmere Ladies also have a parent Men’s team so are sure to receive some noisy support from their club mates. Also from the north-west are Dingle Ladies, who won the Liverpool League this season.

Willesden Ladies promise to bring exciting inner city talent from around the world to the Tournament whilst the Loughborough Foxes and Worcester City Ladies (left) are new to the competition, but have an exciting group of players to draw upon.

As in the Men’s draw, the Women’s competition is completed by two teams from the host city in Sheffield FC and Sheffield and Hallamshire CFA, who will wish to keep The Cup in the Steel City.




Courtesy: The FA.com


Four more confirmed

Wednesday, 18 June 2008

The line-up for The FA UMBRO Futsal Cup Finals took further shape at the weekend, with four more teams confirming their qualification for the event in Sheffield next month.

Corinthians and I Security from the South progressed, whilst there will be two teams from Sheffield representing the North in their home city at the English Institute Of Sport between 4 and 6 July.

Last weekend saw Team United Birmingham, the University of Worcester and Newham Genesis seal their qualification and they now know who they could be facing in just over two weeks.

Corinthians FC, who compete in The FA National League South, secured their spot in the finals with an impressive victory over Vaughan’s FC. After finding themselves 3-1 down at half time against the experienced Vaughan’s team, they managed to turn it around and win by 4-3 with the winner arriving late in the game.

Having been to The Finals on two occasions before, they are now looking to progress further having only played in the group stages previously.

“The win against Vaughan’s was a big scalp for us,” said Corinthians’ Ben Tadmor.

“They have a lot of ex and current England players and we also have the England goalkeeper Eric Pudaloff playing for us and he managed to score against them too!

“We have a heavy Brazilian influence to our game so hopefully we can combine the Brazilian flair with the English spirit and take confidence into the Finals as we have a young, passionate and Futsal minded team.”

Joining them from the Southern section are newcomers I Security, who hail from Epping in Essex. Originally a five-a-side team, who also play football together at the weekend, they have been playing Futsal for the last two years.

They also picked up some impressive results in qualifying as they beat Kickers Futsal by 6-3 before progressing to face Team Bath for a place in The Finals.

A thrilling game ensued, with I Security edging it by 6-5 courtesy of a winning goal in the dying seconds.

“We have done well to get to The Finals and it’s our first time there so we’re just looking forward to going to Sheffield now and we’ll see what happens,” said Bradley Devonshire of I Security.

“We’re a bunch of local lads and have enjoyed the competition so far and are confident going into the Finals now.”

It won’t be quite as long a trip to The Finals for two of the other teams, as both Sheffield FC and Sheffield CFA emerged from the Northern qualification round on Saturday.

Whilst Sheffield FC are in their first year of Futsal competition, they are affiliated to the oldest club in the world after the teams of Sheffield Stormers and Pot Belly FC amalgamated last year.

Both teams had enjoyed success in their previous guises, but with their combined experience now, they have shown good form in qualifying with a fine win against Tranmere Victoria in the qualifiers.

“It was a great win for us,” revealed Richard Moore, of Sheffield FC.

“Tranmere Victoria are one of the best teams around and we could’ve even played better.

“We have six or seven players who have played in The FA Futsal Cup before and the squad is about 13 or 14 strong, so we’re confident that we can go into The Finals and do well.”

Also from the host city are Sheffield & Hallamshire County FA’s representative team. Following their promotion and various programmes of Futsal over the last few years, it was decided that a team could be set up after trials and after an encouraging first season together, they will be looking for further success in the Finals.

“We have done a lot of work with Futsal in the area and we started this team from scratch with trials,” revealed the Sheffield & Hallamshire FA’s Head Of Football Development Brian Peck.

“This season has been a bit of a learning curve for us, but we have done well in the National League so far and we wanted to get to the Finals this year, which we’ve now done.

“We have a mixture of experience, such as England’s Steve Harrison and we also have some of the younger players that have been involved with our junior programme.”

There will be further details of The FA UMBRO Futsal Cup ahead of the competition in early July.




Courtesy: The FA.com


First teams confirmed

By Nicholas Veevers

Tuesday, 10 June 2008

The first teams were confirmed for The FA UMBRO Futsal Cup Finals last weekend, with two clubs from the Midlands and one from the South succeeding in the second Qualification Rounds.

Taking place at the English Institute Of Sport in Sheffield in early July, a total of seven teams will battle it out for the 2008 title and the first three teams to seal their spot in the Finals were confirmed on both Saturday and Sunday.

Both Team United Birmingham and The University Of Worcester will represent the Midlands after securing their passage to the Finals in Sheffield with victories in the qualifiers at Moulton College in Northampton on Sunday.

The first of the three teams from the South to complete their qualification is Newham Genesis, who succeeded at the Bethnal Green Technology College on Saturday and they can now begin their preparations for the Finals whilst the remaining qualifiers will take place next weekend.

In the Midlands, Team United Birmingham were in good goalscoring form with their victories coming against Lutterworth Grammar School (8-3), West Glebe Park (8-1) and New Saints (5-2) and manager Ikhlaq Hussain was delighted to see his side progress.

“We missed out on the Finals last season when we only lost one game, so we’re looking forward to going to Sheffield now,” he said.

“At this stage and on behalf of the team, I’d like to say well done to Djallali Rhomoni, who has been putting so much effort in all season and when we went to Northampton, people were clapping his performances there.”

They are joined by The University Of Worcester, whose wins against Thorplands United (6-1) and Futsalopians (4-2) secured their place in the Finals.

“We have just made a team out of players from the football team at the University, none of us had really played much Futsal before,” revealed captain Andy Jones.

“One of our players, Shane Gill (pictured above), has been involved with the England Futsal squad, so he has taught us a little more about the game and how it’s played best and we’ve just learnt as we have gone along really.

“We’ve been quite solid at the back in all of the games we’ve played and we have a bit of pace too, so we’ve managed to get a few goals.

“We’re now looking forward to Sheffield, it will be a great challenge and experience for us.”

Also making the journey to South Yorkshire on 4 - 6 July will be Newham Genesis, after they saw off opposition from FC Europe (6-4), 87 Acres (7-3) and Manuden FC (6-0).

An established team on the five-a-side circuit, manager Joe Toko is confident that they can head to Sheffield with high hopes.

“We have been playing together for a while now,” he revealed.

“We have a few players who showed a lot of potential when they were younger but haven’t quite made it so we have the hunger and we're quite confident that we can do well in the Final.”

The full line-up for the Finals will be confirmed this weekend, when two teams will emerge from the Northern Qualifying Round which takes place at Hillsborough LC in Sheffield on Saturday and then there will be a further two teams from the Southern qualifiers, which take place at Bethnal Green on Saturday and then at the Epping Sports Centre on Sunday.





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