Hummel F-League Series Four

[adelaidefusion]

Dural Warriors have all but mathematically sealed the 2012 Hummel F-League title after a scintillating weekend of Futsal at YMCA Derrimut in Melbourne.

The Warriors lost their first game of the season (a thrilling 5-3 encounter with home-side Vipers) but a tough 5-3 win over Melbourne Heart and 9-3 Boomerangs blitz was enough to send them six points clear on the table with two games left to play in Sydney Series-5 early next month (September 8-9).

Dural (on 31 competition points) also have a 25-goal beneficial goal advantage over nearest rivals Vic Vipers should the unthinkable happen, but although the title chase is down to a numbers game there’s plenty of excitement elsewhere on the ladder as Vipers (25), Boomerangs (24) and East Coast (23) vie for the less shiny medals and Jaguars (9), St Albans (8) and Melbourne (6) fight to avoid the dreaded wooden spoon.

The triangular warfare erupts at the Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre when Vipers play East Coast, who also tackle Boomerangs to decide places second through fourth, while another manage-a-trios takes place at the other end with St Albans facing Jaguars, who also play Heart to sort out the bottom-placed team for 2012. Parramatta are in limbo and guaranteed of fifth place no matter what.

It was certainly a weekend for the fans with a season-high 120 goals scored over 12 games (round-10 producing a 49-goal high and round-12 an equal second-best 40) to surge the average to almost 8.5 per game (just short of last year’s 8.64 average).

Dural machine Jarrod Basger leads the way with 24 goals, ahead of Boomerangs star Daniel Fulton (20) and Vipers and Heart captains Jonathan Barientos and Miguel Barrigos (12). Greg Giovenali (Dural), Joao Da Silva (East Coast) and Chris Zeballos (East Coast) each have 10 goals, while nine goal efforts from Nathan Niski (Dural), Aaron Cimitile (East Coast) and Jason Barientos (Vipers) round out the top-10.

Eleven new poachers in Melbourne Series-4 takes the overall tally to 99 F-League scorers (goalkeeper Alistair Bruce’s cheeky full-courter against Boomerangs making him Dural’s league-high 15th goalscorer) – but who will become the competition’s 100th in Sydney? And will the season crack 500 goals (another 93 are needed in the final eight games)? Can Dural get the one point necessary for a title win, who will finish in the top-three, and which Melbourne club will be stirring pots with a wooden spoon?

Follow all the action as it happens via Facebook (FNSWFLeague, don’t forget to add your Like!) and Twitter (@thefleague) when the action heads back to Sydney’s Morris Iemma Sports Centre for Series-5 games on September 8-9. There’s always some good banter to go with live game updates.

And keep an eye out for part two of Futsal in Australia, a special report that examines the sport’s birth, rise, fall and resurrection (all in three decades), including first-hand accounts of the 1980’s televised indoor soccer league, the Indooroos glory days, and Futsalroos failings and resurrection, while world cup veteran Erkin Osman, code administrators and F-League coaches discuss the code’s exciting future.



Saturday, August 18

Round 10

Heart razzle-dazzle Strikers

A total team performance from Melbourne Heart helped defeat St Albans Strikers 9-3 in an all-Victorian affair to kick-off Series-4 of the 2012 Hummel F-League at an atmospheric YMCA Derrimut on Saturday morning.

A first-minute Heart goal to Anthony Ramzy was soured when the scorer was stretchered off with ankle ligament damage but Melbourne surged onward and neat follow-ups from Matthew Vragovski and Konrad Machoy helped compile a 3-0 halftime scoreline.

Melbourne continued the onslaught in the second term with Adrian Fruscalzo, Luke Cardamone and a 10m penalty from goalkeeper Dianoosh Rasoulzadeh pushing the score to 6-0 before St Albans finally got on the board through Vadim Mazurski on the half-hour.

Some terrific lead up play from Cardamone put Doron Pozniak in for a 7-1 Heart lead but Jose Portillo pegged one back for Strikers with four minutes left to play.

Lev Lewis then put his name on a busy scoresheet and Gianni Romano also scored to make it 9-2 to Heart before St Albans netted a consolation via Alija Redzepovic, Melbourne winning convincingly 9-3.

A league-high nine players scored for Heart – bettering the previous best mark of eight set by Dural versus Jaguars in round two (11-1) and East Coast against Parramatta in round 12 (11-1) – to give the cellar-dwellers back-to-back victories following a 6-1 win over Jaguars in Canberra Series-3.

Melbourne Heart 9 (Anthony Ramzy 1’, Matthew Vragovski 9’, Konrad Machoy 17’, Adrian Fruscalzo 28’, Luke Cardamone 30’, Dianoosh Rasoulzadeh 31’, Doron Pozniak 35’, Lev Lewis 37’, Gianni Romano 38’) defeated St Albans Strikers 3 (Vadim Mazurski 32’, Jose Portillo 36’, Alija Redzepovic 39’)



Heat torch Jaguars

East Coast Heat began their Melbourne Series-4 safari like hunters using machine guns following an 11-2 Saturday morning ambush of Jaguars.

The Heat started their hunt with sights as big as the Hubble telescope and smoke bellowing from their barrels as Takuya Umeda struck early and Chris Hanly, Aaron Cimitile and Oner Simsek bagged goals to make it 4-0 before the Jaguars had even heard a shot.

Substitute Hisato Komatsu scored with his first touch for East Coast midway through the opening period, Joao Da Silva followed up with a glitzy breakaway and a second Komatsu strike took the halftime score to an ominous 7-blot.

Miguel Barrigos chalked up the first Jaguars goal early in the second half, and while a Da Silva hat-trick, Marino Musumeci header and clumsy own goal extended the Heat lead to 11-1, Abel Bahiru grabbed another for Jaguars to round out an 11-2 East Coast rout on a positive note despite their sixth straight defeat.

East Coast Heat 11 (Takuya Umeda 1’, Chris Hanly 4’, Aaron Cimitile 5’, Oner Simsek 11’, Hisato Komatsu 11’,17’, Joao Da Silva 13’,33’,37’, Marino Musumeci 34’, own goal 37’) defeated Jaguars Futbol Sala 2 (Miguel Barrigos 23’, Abel Bahiru 39’)



Dural wallop Boomerangs

Dural Warriors flexed their 2012 Hummel F-League muscle by belting Boomerangs 10-3 at the YMCA Derrimut on Saturday afternoon.

It was billed as the top-of-the-table clash that could well decide this year’s F-League champion but flight problems on the way down to Melbourne only seemed to affect one team as competition leading scorer Jarrod Basger pounced to break the deadlock for Dural in the 12th minute.

A disastrous own goal doubled the Dural lead before Warriors keeper Alistair Bruce caught Boomerangs counterpart Angelo Konstantinou off his line with a cheeky full-court goal.

A great throw from Bruce moments later found a well-timed Dean Lockhart run behind the Boomerangs defence for a neatly taken goal and 4-0 advantage, followed up by Danny Martinez and Michael Figueira strikes to make it a 6-0 to Dural a couple of minutes from halftime.

Boomerangs got back in the game when Daniel Fogarty and Mark Symington both scored before the break but the Warriors started the second half just like the first with Nathan Niski finishing off a great team goal for a 7-2 advantage.

Symington clawed back another one for Boomerangs to make it 7-3 but a Daine Merrin far post tap-in sparked his late-game hat-trick to rubber stamp Dural’s 10-3 victory and a 10-game unbeaten F-League run, Glenn Smith netting a late goal for the territorians.

The result tightened the Warriors’ trophy grip and ended a six-game Boomerangs win streak.

Dural Warriors 10 (Jarrod Basger 12’, own goal 12’, Alistair Bruce 14’, Dean Lockhart 15’, Danny Martinez 16’, Michael Figueira 17’, Nathan Niski 22’, Daine Merrin 30’,31’,40’) defeated Boomerangs 3 (Daniel Fogarty 19’, Mark Symington 20’,26’, Glenn Smith 37’)



Vipers spoil Parramatta

Vic Vipers registered a comfortable 7-3 win over an under-strength Parramatta Blues in Melbourne Series-4 of the 2012 Hummel F-League on Saturday afternoon.

With Ricardo Castro back on deck following his Series-2 injury the Vipers looked impressive as Kui Mu ticked the scoreboard over in the first minute, team-mates Thiago Priori and Jonathan Barientos adding their names to the scoresheet to make it a healthy 3-0 halftime buffer for the home side.

Priori scored again and twin Barientos strikes from brothers Jason and Jonathan pushed Vipers 6-0 in front at the half-hour point before Justin McLeay finally scored for the Blues with eight minutes left to play.

Parramatta’s Rodrigo Barbosa added another to make it an interesting 6-2, only for Vipers captain Jonathan Barientos to complete his hat-trick and consign Blues coach Steven Luburic’s late goal to consolation status with a 7-3 final whistle scoreline – only the third time the Vics had clocked over five goals in a game this season.

Vic Vipers 7 (Kui Mu 1’, Jonathon Barientos 4’,31’,35’, Thiago Priori 7’,26’, Jason Barientos 28’) defeated Parramatta Blues 3 (Justin McLeay 32’, Rodrigo Barbosa 37’, Steven Luburic 38’)



Round 11

Heat break Heart

A gallant Melbourne Heart pushed East Coast Heat all the way by in a 2-1 thriller at the YMCA Derrimut on Saturday evening.

A second-minute Aaron Cimitile foray opened the East Coast account in a grinding game underlined by some outstanding defence, and it wasn’t until 10 minutes to go that Futsalroo Chris Zeballos extended the Heat advantage with a well-taken goal on the half-hour.

Heart had plenty of chances to score and were left to rue their missed opportunities as Lev Lewis’ last-minute scorcher proved too late in a tight 2-1 East Coast victory.

Melbourne had showed big signs of improvement, but Heat were warmer still with easily their highest F-League score this year and the first time they’d netted more than six in a game – a feat they would repeat two games later against Parramatta.

East Coast Heat 2 (Aaron Cimitile 2’, Chris Zeballos 32’) defeated Melbourne Heart 1 (Lev Lewis 39’)



Jaguars blitz Blues

Jaguars bounced back on their feet with an inspiring 6-1 mauling of Parramatta Blues in Melbourne Series-4 of the 2012 Hummel F-League on Saturday night.

With their carcass still fresh from a 11-2 capitulation to East Coast, Jaguars responded just like a wounded big cat would – with slashing claws and slicing fangs… and some great goals too.

The league’s worst defence (78 goals in 10 games) got their team off to a dreadful start when a Jaguars own goal gifted Parramatta a sixth-minute lead, but a Sangchul Lim brace and Joaquin Jimenez strike right on halftime catapulted Jaguars 3-1 in front – only the second time they’d scored more than twice in a game this season.

There was further joy when Jermain Deng added another for Jaguars straight after the restart before a brace from skipper Miguel Barrigos added some delicious icing to a tasty 6-1 cake, their first win since a 9-4 round four defeat of St Albans and the first time they’d held an opponent under four goals in 11 rounds.

Jaguars Futbol Sala 6 (Sangchul Lim 7’,14’, Joaquin Jimenez 20’, Jermain Deng 22’, Miguel Barrigos 27’,33’) defeated Parramatta Blues 1 (own goal 6’)



Sunday, August 19

Boomerangs bounce St Albans

Boomerangs rebounded from their Dural embarrassment with a hard-fought 7-4 win over luckless St Albans Strikers in the Sunday morning match-up of Melbourne Series-4.

Boomerangs star Daniel Fulton was kept quiet in the 10-3 loss to Warriors but made an early statement against St Albans only to see his first-minute goal cancelled out moments later by Kwabee Otuo for Strikers in what was a free-flowing contest.

Fulton was clearly in the zone and notched up his hat-trick inside the opening 10 minutes as Boomerangs raced to a 3-1 advantage before Strikers skipper Tomislav Grigc managed to stop the situation from getting out of hand when he pulled one back for St Albans at the quarter-hour.

Sean O'Neil restored a two-goal Boomerangs buffer two minutes from halftime but the game spun on its head when Jose Portillo’s 10m penalty brought it back to 4-3 and Otuo’s second drew the Strikers level at 4-4 in a frantic closing few moments of the first half.

The second term was a little more emphatic as Boomerangs nudged their noses back in front when Fulton grabbed his fourth early in the second term before Jonathon Ciminelli finished off a lovely interchange and Denny Dutra scored midway through the half to seal a tough 7-4 victory.

Boomerangs 7 (Fulton 1’,8’,9’,23’, Sean O'Neil 17’, Jonathon Ciminelli 25’, Denny Dutra 31’) defeated St Albans Strikers 4 (Kwabee Otuo 8’,20’, Tomislav Grigc 15’, Jose Portillo 19’)



Vipers upset Warriors

Vic Vipers caused the boilover of the season when they consigned 2012 Hummel F-League leaders Dural Warriors to their first loss in an epic 5-3 Sunday morning thriller at the YMCA Derrimut.

The win breathed a whisper of life back into the title race following Dural’s 10-3 annihilation of second-placed Boomerangs to go seven points clear; it also showcased the Vics’ big league credentials.

Thiago Priori’s third-minute striker put the Vipers in front and captain Jonathon Barientos consolidated their strong start with a goal from a fifth-minute corner kick that doubled the lead.

Dural’s Chris Polkinghorne halved the deficit with a nice back-post volley a minute later but Ricardo Castro bobbed up to slide the Vipers to a 3-1 advantage with five minutes to go until halftime.

The home side was doing superbly and a Kui Mu goal immediately after a Vipers timeout pushed them to a commanding 4-1 halftime platform.

Dural tried everything but couldn’t break through a solid Vics defence until ‘that man’ Jarrod Basger snatched a goal to make it 4-2 midway through the term with the Vipers also in massive foul trouble, and a 10metre Rhys Giovenali penalty with four minutes left on the clock racing pulses across the arena.

With the Vipers in the pressure cooker up stepped cool-hand Jason Barientos who scored his team’s only second-half goal to take a 5-3 lead two minutes from fulltime.

Dural went to a fifth man but the fulltime buzzer sounded with the Vipers just in front and frontrunners Warriors walking off court defeated for the first time this season, the end of a 10 game unbeaten sequence.

Dural had been held to its second lowest total of the campaign (following their 1-1 round-eight draw with East Coast and an equally tight 4-3 round-six win over Vipers in Sydney), while the Vics showed everyone that Warriors could indeed be beaten.

Vic Vipers 5 (Thiago Priori 3’, Jonathan Barientos 5’, Ricardo Castro 14’, Kui Mu 15’, Jason Barientos 38’) defeated Dural Warriors 4 (Chris Polkinghorne 6’, Jarrod Basger 30’, Rhys Giovenali 35’, Own Goal 39')



Round 12

East Coast swamps Parramatta

East Coast Heat bamboozled Parramatta Blues 11-1 in the Melbourne Series-4 Sunday matinee of the 2012 Hummel F-League.

The round-12 plunder completed East Coast’s Melbourne trifecta and continued their unbeaten run to seven games (including four straight victories), with a top-two finish still well in sight with Vic Vipers just a point in front of them on the table.

Takuya Umeda opened the scoring for East Coast in the eighth-minute and they never looked back as further goals to Joao Da Silva, Oner Simsek and Aaron Cimitile pushed them out to a 4-0 halftime lead.

The Heat raised the temperature in the second half as a Chris Zeballos double, Da Silva’s second, and goals to Marino Musumeci, Andre Caro and Chris Hanly made it a sizzling 10-zip.

But Parramatta had no plans to raise the white flag and Queensland import Danny Ngaluafe converted from the penalty spot, only for Cimitile to have the last laugh when he prodded home Heat’s 11th of the fixture.

The lopsided result equaled the 2012 F-League’s biggest winning margin (Dural 11-1 over Jaguars in round two; Inner City still hold the F-League record with their 12-1 defeat of Boomerangs in last year’s inaugural season) and signed off on a terrific Melbourne Series-4 weekend in which Heat conceded a measly four goals to take over the mantle as the F-League’s tightest defence (29 goals in 12 games).

Heat will definitely rue their poor start to the competition when they won just one of their first five matches, but they can still finish second with a good Series-5 showing against close rivals Boomerangs and Vic Vipers.

After promising so much in a four-game win streak Parramatta have now lost four on the trot (behind a dismal five goals scored and 31 conceded since their massive 15-8 win over St Albans) to slump to fifth place overall – and they can’t finish any higher or lower despite the final two match results against big guns Dural and Boomerangs in Sydney.

East Coast Heat 11 (Takuya Umeda 8’, Oner Simsek 14’, Joao Da Silva 14’,26’, Chris Zeballos 22’,23’, Aaron Cimitile 20’,39’, Andre Caro 29’, Chris Hanly 34’, Marino Musumeci 25’) defeated Parramatta Blues 1 (Danny Ngaluafe 36’)



Jaguars thrash Boomerangs

Jaguars sent Boomerangs packing from the Victorian capital with a masterful 10-2 Sunday afternoon display in Seres-4 of the 2012 Hummel F-League, led by a five-goal haul from skipper Miguel Barrigos.

Jaguars were playing for pride and they followed up a 6-1 win over Parramatta in fine style to leapfrog Melbourne neighbours and wooden spoon rivals Heart and Strikers on the points ladder. It was also a strong show of improvement to perform so strongly against one of Australia’s best teams.

Barrigos stamped his authority on the match early with a brace separated by team-mate Jermain Deng’s goal and Aguek Aguek fired in a fourth for a 4-0 Jaguars blitz before Daniel Fulton pulled one back for Boomerangs midway through a crazy opening stanza.

Barrigos reasserted himself and restored the four-goal Jaguars cushion soon after, Tim Simon making it 6-1 on the stroke of halftime.

The second half was more of the same as Matthew Jamieson increased the Jaguars break, Barrigos bagged a couple more to complete a terrific five-goal game, and Deng also scored again to give his team a cruisy 10-1 advantage by the half-hour mark, Sam Smith netting a Boomerangs consolation right on fulltime.

The Jaguars have stepped it up defensively the last two games, leaking just three goals after going 10 matches at an average concession of almost eight a game.

It certainly adds flavour to an interesting Series-5 weekend in Sydney next month when Jaguars face close adversaries St Albans and Heart in a Mexican standoff, while Boomerangs tackle East Coast and Parramatta in its triangular quest for a top-two finish. The Blues and Boomerangs also met in last year’s final round with the match finishing a highly entertaining 5-5 draw.

Jaguars Futbol Sala 10 (Miguel Barrigos 5’,8’,18’,26’,28’, Jermain Deng 7’,28’, Aguek Aguek 8’, Tim Simon 19’, Matthew Jamieson 24’) defeated Boomerangs 2 (Daniel Fulton 12’, Sam Smith 40’)



Warriors stop Heart

Dural Warriors were made to earn a tight 7-3 win over Melbourne Heart in Melbourne Series-4 at the YMCA Derrimut on Sunday afternoon.

A win would give Dural a commanding six point buffer at the top of the table with two games left to play in the 2012 Hummel F-League’s first-past-the-post run, but they found the going tough against a Heart side that showed plenty of improvement back on home turf.

Melbourne actually opened the scoring through Matthew Vragovski and Dural’s Futsalroo Tobias Seeto had to show a bit of cheeky skill with his backheel finish leveling the scores at 1-1 with seven minutes to go in the first half.

The Warriors took the lead a minute from oranges when Jarrod Basger's tame effort trickled into the net (Basger has now scored in 11 straight F-League matches) but Adrian Fruscalzo restored parity for Heart almost from the second half restart.

Wade Giovenali fired Dural back into a 3-2 position moments later before a heart-breaking Melbourne own goal, when Rhys Giovenali's effort deflected into an empty net, lifted them further in front.

Heart kept trying and a Lev Lewis goal brought the Victorians back to 4-3 down with 12 minutes still to play, but who else but Basger would seal a 7-3 Warriors win with a three-minute hat-trick taking him to a league-leading 24 goal total.

The Warriors need just a point in Sydney Series-5 to lift this year’s Hummel F-League first-past-the-post trophy. Standing in their way are Parramatta and St Albans.

But for a team that has 14 players who have multiple goals to their name in an 81-goal season (even goalkeeper Alistair Bruce has one), you’d have to send Dural to the Olympics for their 2012 F-League medal to turn into silver.

Heart showed great spirit over the weekend and will hope to end a tough year on a high note when they face Victorian rivals Vipers and Jaguars next month in a last-ditch bid to climb off the bottom of the table.

Dural Warriors 7 (Jarrod Basger 19’,32’,34’,35’, Tobias Seeto 12’, Wade Giovenali 24’, own goal 24’) defeated Melbourne Heart 3 (Matthew Vragovski 6’, Adrian Fruscalzo 21’, Lev Lewis 28’)



Vipers frazzle Strikers

The final Series-4 F-League game was an absolute cracker as Vic Vipers won an all-Melbourne affair against St Albans Strikers 5-3 at the YMCA Derrimut on Sunday night.

The Vipers’ sixth straight Victorian victory helped them overtake Boomerangs into second place and they will remain the only F-League team unbeaten south of the border.

Adam Cooper got the Vics off to a flyer with some sublime skills to round the keeper and slot home and team-mate Thiago Priori extended the lead moments later, but St Albans fought their way back into the contest when Jose Portillo scored twice to reach parity at the interval.

Vipers skipper Jonathan Barientos restored his side’s lead straight after the restart only for Yaw Otuo to level again at 3-3 to set up an exciting final 12 minutes.

Even when Priori netted his second to put Vipers back in front with seven minutes to go the game wasn’t really sealed until a last-minute Ricardo Castro 10m penalty put the exclamation point on a gripping 5-3 win.

St Albans sign off their long season with Sydney Series-5 games against resurgent Jaguars and leaders Dural, and Vipers need to be on the ball in final weekend fixtures versus Heart and close foes East Coast in the battle for second place.

Vic Vipers 5 (Adam Cooper 6’, Thiago Priori 8’,32’, Jonathan Barientos 23’, Ricardo Castro 40’) defeated St Albans Strikers 3 (Jose Portillo 15’,18’, Yaw Otuo 28’)


by: Dan de Nardi

[mattieg1200]

Thought I might give a bit of a summary for those that may be interested!

Officially sanctioned by FFA and all member federations

Officially sponsored by Hummel

Only competition in Australia to be run off the clock (this means approx 40-50 min halves, obviously depending on how long the ball stays in court)

Standard of games is extremely high, and definitely above that of the Nationals in Canberra each year

Pace of the game is a little bit slower, due to players not being restricted by time, but this is the way Futsal is meant to be played!

At the moment, the competition is in its early stages, so when Victorian teams play in Vic, they are a bit stronger, and when they have to travel to NSW, they are much weaker.

Dural by far the strongest team, hence winning the League with Series 5 yet to be played!

Hopefully we will see teams from WA, SA and QLD next year or in the near future

[Victoria's Secret]

What's the standard of refereeing like?