Courtesy: Oceania Football


Auckland leading the futsal pack

Defending champions Auckland Football are top of the ASB National Futsal League standings after Series One of the three-leg competition held in Dunedin over the weekend.

The Auckland side, led by Futsal Whites captain Marvin Eakins, finished the weekend at the Edgar Centre with three wins from five matches.

The team opened the competition on Saturday afternoon with their first loss in a year, falling 3-1 to Northern Futsal.

However they made a comeback in the second of their three games on the opening day with a 7-1 win over Futsal South who now trail them on the table on goal difference.

“Futsal South were down 3-0 against Auckland in the first half and just sort of put their heads down, which was a bit of a shame,” New Zealand Football futsal development officer Dave Payne says.

“But when they played Mainland, they were a completely different team. That was a convincing win and they got another win against Central and scored one of the goals of the tournament.”

Leading the scoring after Series One is Futsal South’s Carlos Herman who already has eight goals to his name.

Auckland coach Nathan Robertson says after the sluggish start to their campaign his team got back on track quickly.

“We started really poorly and we were really lethargic in that first game against Northern but we gradually got better over the weekend,” Robertson says.

“We came out after losing to Northern and put our heads down in the second game against Futsal South and put the hammer down and got a great result, so it was good to pick it up straight away.

“With so many changes from last year, everyone combined really nicely and the under-19 players stood up really well so it was a good team effort.”

After dominating the 2011/12 competition, winning the title without dropping a point, Robertson says this year’s league already has a tighter feel to it.

“It was a good tournament and it’s good to be on top heading into Series Two in Auckland. But it was really competitive and the other teams have improved which is good for the game.”

Recording three losses and two draws has left WaiBOP sitting on the bottom of the table with just two points leading into Series Two.

Auckland will play host to Series Two at ASB Stadium in February with the final round to be in Wellington at the ASB Sports Centre in March.






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