Courtesy: O Jornal


Expos lose in final in national futsal tournament

By João Gonçalves

15/08/2008

Expos, the two-time defending U-14 boys state champions team from New Bedford, came home with the silver medal from last week's 23rd Annual United States Futsal National Championships (Futsalplanet note: more than last week!), played at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland.

According to published reports, this is the biggest, oldest and most prestigious Futsal competition in the country and, in a reflection of the sport's popularity across the country, it ended with teams from 13 different states winning medals.

"This is great news because it not only shows how much Futsal has grown, but how competitive it has become all across the United States" U.S. Futsal President Alex Para said after the tournament.

With Expos in the mix, this was the first time that teams from the east coast dominated the competition, with local teams from Maryland leading the way. In the medal category, Massachusetts came in second, followed by New Jersey and California.

To make the competition a bit more balanced, US Fustal also made the tournament an 'age-pure' group affair and that allowed teams like Expos to play on more even ground.
The local side was placed in group B and finished in second place to gain a spot in the semi-finals.

Just prior to the tournament, the club was caught off-guard with some shocking news as coach Charlie Eassesse suddenly announced that he was leaving and taking his son, as well as a couple of other players with him. Having already qualified, the Expos were left with the daunting task of rebuilding a team for the toughest competition at the national level and turned to Harry Bedrosian as the coaching solution.

"Some of these kids had never played futsal on the same team, so it was quite a challenge," explained director Amilcar Ferreira. "We basically had to rebuild the team from scratch but we were very fortunate that we had Harry to turn to because he is a wonderful coach, never loses his cool, he's very knowledgeable and was able to put everything together in such short notice."
"There was not much else to do," added Bedrosian. "We had just come back from the regionals when we found out about this, so we had no time, we just rushed to try to put a team together".

Bedrosian brought four new players abroad, including his son, Alex, ran a few practices, tried to get everyone on the same page and off they went to Baltimore.
Predictably, the tournament did not start as well as the local side had hoped as Expos dropped a 2-1 decision to the Mountain Lions, a team from Pittsburgh.
But the boys bounced back and crushed MACSA, a team from California, 10-4, in their second match of the day and their confidence was boosted by the realization that they could compete as long as they remained focused.
In the second day, more used to the conditions and playing surface, Expos began with a 5-1 victory over LSTS Futsal, a team from New Jersey.
"Actually, we had lost to them in Massachusetts, so this was a team that we knew, but our kids were unbelievable, they were on fire," added Ferreira. "You had to see that game, they truly refused to lose and just went out and turned in an incredible performance."
In the evening, they crushed their final opponent, 9-1, to clinch a berth in the semi-finals, as they finished second in their group to the Mountain Lions.

That brought up Saturday's semi-final against the Group A winner, the Philly Fusion, but Expos prevailed, 6-3, to set up a re-match against the Mountain Lions in the title game because the Lions had squeaked by DCFA Corinthians, 3-2, in the other semi-final.

As expected, the championship game was bitterly fought, with both sides turning in a superb effort. In the end, the Mountain Lions repeated the 2-1 victory from the opening round to bring home the trophy.
"Actually we were pretty confident going into the game because we had out outplayed them when we first lost to them," said Bedrosian. "We had the better chances, hit the post four or five times, so we thought we could take them."

Alex Ferreira put Expos in front in the first half but two late goals ended the dream.
"That was a very disappointing loss because we were leading all the way, we had scored first, but then, right near the end, we got caught in a line change and they scored, that's all it took, just a few seconds," added a disappointed Ferreira. "It was incredible, we gave them just that little opening and they took advantage."
Expos is based in New Bedford and in June became the first local
team to win consecutive Massachusetts state championships when they edged Greater Boston, 3-2, in the final in a penalty shot tie-breaker, and earned the right to represent Massachusetts in the Region I tournament that was played in Portland, Maine.





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