ASA: The Australian men’s Futsal squad will take on Japan this week in a series of practice matches in preparation for the upcoming OFC Futsal Championship.
Australia’s elite indoor players have been brought into camp as National Coach Scott Gilligan and Technical Advisor Mauricio Marques begin the team selection process ahead of the OFC tournament to be played in Canberra during August.
The winner of the OFC Championship will qualify for the 5th FIFA Futsal World Championship to be held in Chinese Taipei from November 19 – December 25.
The squad will play three matches starting with a selection of “possibles” taking on Japan on Thursday March 19th. A combination of “probables” will face the Japanese team on Friday night, before another combination play Japan on Saturday evening following the junior finals of the Futsal NSW State League.
The three games will be played at:
Dural Sport and Leisure Centre
Cnr. Kenthurst Road and Pellitt Lane
Round Corner N.S.W.
All matches kick off at 8pm and entry is free.
The Australian squad is:
Martin Calvert (Qld), Miles Downie (VIC), David Fischer (Qld), Jovan Gacesa (Qld), Luke Haydon (Qld), Brett Hewit (NSW), Simon Keith (NSW), Angelo Konstantinou (ACT), Dean Lockhart (NSW), Danny Ngaluse (Qld), Andrew Nolan (NSW), Gavin O’Brien (NSW), Damian Pilat (Qld), Elia Salloum (ACT), Mark Sgroi (NSW), Ben Singleton (NSW), Peter Spathis (NSW), Patrick Suriano (NSW), Adrian Vizzari (NSW), Isaac Wadick (NSW), Lachlan Wright (NSW), Elliot Zwangobani (ACT)
Australia has qualified for every previous FIFA Futsal World Championship since the inaugural tournament in 1989.
The Japanese team is using the matches as part of their preparation for the 6th AFC Futsal Championship to be staged in Macau from April 16-25. This tournament will serve as the Asian qualifiers for the World Championship with the top three teams progressing.
Japan last qualified for the FIFA Futsal World Championship in 1989, but has been runner-up in the last two editions of the AFC event.