The second leg of the national competition has 20 matches of fast-paced futsal action on the schedule at the ASB Sports Centre in Kilbirnie beginning with Friday’s Capital v Central – Manawatu showdown at midday.
In Series One; Mainland, featuring Futsal Whites Ryan Batty and Atta Elayyan, recorded four wins from their five outings at the Pettigrew Arena in Taradale with all four victories featuring come-from-behind efforts.
Mainland’s sole defeat came on the second day at the hands of the defending champion Auckland side who sit in third place, a point behind Capital Futsal who were once again led by the attacking threat of Futsal White Miroslav Malivuk who finished the weekend as the competition’s leading marksman with eight goals.
Waikato Bay of Plenty Futsal round out the top four having taken two wins from their opening five matches.
Capital Futsal are well placed to consolidate their top four spot this weekend with Malivuk among the host’s contingent of Futsal Whites along with fellow international representatives Kareem Osman, Tai Barham and Jakub Sinkora.
Capital coach Said Solemanpour says his international players perform a strong leadership role for the team on the court.
“Their experience is the main thing, Solemanpour says,” having the Futsal Whites guys on the court and guiding the team makes life easier for the likes of our younger players.
“If you didn’t have those players, things you’re trying to deploy would take a lot longer to get across so having them in the group speeds things up a lot more.”
Another exciting feature of Series One for Capital was the performance of new Futsal Whites squad member Luk Saker.
Saker – at the tender age of 16 – made a mark in Napier and Solemanpour says his effort was certainly not a surprise after coming into the team last year.
“What I like about Luk is that while he’s only 16, he plays as though he’s a 25-year-old who has been playing for a while and he plays without any fear. Series One was exactly what we expected from him and he is one of our main players even though he’s only 16.”
Solemanpour says Series Two provides a golden opportunity to build a stronger platform to launch into the pivotal third leg in Auckland in December which includes the competition semi-finals and final.
“With home advantage in Wellington we are hoping for 15 points so we can make our life easier up in Auckland and maybe rest a few players before semi-finals and finals.
“Last year one of the issues we had, by the time we came to the final, we were just too tired and we couldn’t execute what we needed to in the final game.”
Series Two of the Futsal National League begins on Friday 7 November at 12pm at the ASB Sports Centre and you can follow the action with LIVE streaming coverage on www.nzfootball.co.nz

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