Courtesy: The AFC.com


Knight experimenting rookies in friendlies

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

Sydney: Australia futsal coach Steve Knight has injected several young players into the Futsalroos squad ahead of the ASB Trans Tasman Cup three-match friendly futsal series against New Zealand, which will be used to finetune the squad for November’s FIFA Futsal World Cup 2012 in Thailand.

Several dominant figures in Australia’s heroic run to the semi-finals of the AFC Futsal Championship will be missing the three-match series against New Zealand as Knight is determined to test the youngsters’ mettle before the World Cup.

“Since qualifying for the FIFA Futsal World Cup, the players have personally taken their preparation to another level with extra fitness training and court sessions which is fantastic considering their amateur status and balancing work and family commitments,” Knight was quoted in a FFA press release.

“The upcoming series against New Zealand will be our first hit-out against international opposition since qualification and every minute on the court from here to Thailand is extremely important. We have been training hard, but you can only do so much in training compared to a match.

“I’ll also be using the series to test a number of younger players to see if they are up to international level,” he added.

Key players Giovenali Gregory, Simon Keith and Andrez Gomez are not in the squad while Tobias Seeto is coming out of long-term injury to feature in the tournament.

Australia, who qualified for the World Cup by finishing fourth in the AFC Futsal
Championship 2012, will see off the challenges of Italy, Argentina and Mexico in Group D with their first match of the campaign being scheduled for November 2 against Italy.




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