The National Futsal Championships were held in Sydney last week, with 10 Queensland teams participating in all age groups from Under 12s to Athletes With Disability (AWD) Open and Mixed.
Of the 10 Queensland teams competing, Under 14 Metro Boys and AWD Open and Mixed teams overcame some tough challenges to make the Grand Final of their respective competitions.
Under 12 Boys
The Queensland Metro Under 12 Boys finished regular fixtures at the top of the table for their respective competition. After overcoming a nail-biting 5-4 victory against the WA Black Swans in the qualifying final, the Under 12 Boys competition came to a conclusion with a 5-1 loss to FNSW Thunder in the semi-finals. Zachary Roulston led the way for the Under 12 Boys finishing with seven goals for the tournament.
Under 13 Girls
The Queensland Metro Under 13 Girls finished regular fixtures with three wins and four losses from seven games played. Whilst they were pipped to the post missing out on a finals berth to FNSW Country North, the Under 13 Girls showed plenty of promise finishing the tournament strong, with a 6-1 victory over FV in Round 6 and a 2-0 victory over FNSW Country in Round 7. Maya Wiltsche finished the tournament as the leading goal scorer for the Under 13 Girls with five goals.
Under 13 Boys
The Queensland Metro Under 13 Boys finished regular fixtures at the top of the table with FNSW Lightning, with goal differential separating the two. Securing a massive 8-2 victory over FFSA Blue in the qualifying final, the Under 13 Boys faced Victoria in the semi-finals, having beaten them 5-2 in Round 2 of regular fixtures. The semi-finals is where the competition ended for the Under 13 Boys, having lost 5-0 to Victoria who later went on to win the competition. Noah Maieroni led the way for the Under 13 Boys finishing the tournament with nine goals from seven games.
Under 14 Boys
The Queensland Metro Under 14 Boys finished regular fixtures at the top of the table. The Under 14 Boys secured some big wins over the course of their tournament including defeating FFSA Red 9-4 in Round 2 and FNSW Country Blue 13-1 in Round 4 with Caden Penniket scoring a hat-trick and three others scoring doubles.
The finals kicked off in similar fashion for the Under 14 Boys, securing a 9-1 win over FFSA Blue in the qualifying finals followed by a 3-1 win over Victoria in the semi-finals. Unfortunately the Under 14 Boys could not overcome FNSW Thunder in the Grand Final, losing 6-1. Caden Penniket topped the scoring list for the Under 14 Boys over the course of the tournament grabbing seven goals from eight appearances.
Grand Final
FNSW Thunder 6 (C. Taylor 5’ 6’ 7’ 20’ 33’, J. McCue-Shore 24’) def. Queensland Metro (C. Penniket 24’)
Under 15 Girls
The QLD Metro Under 15 Girls finished the regular fixtures with mixed results including a win and a draw from five fixtures, most notably a 6-4 victory against FNSW Country with Abby Vester scoring a hat-trick.
The Under 15 Girls went into the qualifying final challenging FNSW Thunder and unfortunately for the Under 15 Girls, lost to the competition premiers 9-0. Abby Vester led the way for the Under 15 Girls with four goals from six matches.
Under 15 Boys
The Queensland Metro Under 15 Boys finished regular fixtures with three wins and three losses from seven matches. The Under 15 Boys had their most notable game against FFSA with a 3-1 victory.
Unfortunately the Under 15 Boys did not make the finals, however showed plenty of promise to build upon for next year in what proved to be a very competitive age group. Godwill Ago Thomas-Remijo and Jacob Lombardo both grabbed five goals from seven matches.
Under 16 Boys
The Queensland Metro Under 16 Boys finished the regular fixtures in third place with three convincing wins, including 5-2 victory against WA Black Swans and 3-1 victory against FNSW Country.
The Under 16 Boys faced eventual Grand Finalists in the first leg of the finals, going down 5-2 to FNSW Lightning. Benjamin Bordin led the way for the Under 16 Boys with five goals from eight appearances.
Under 17 Girls
The Queensland Metro Under 17 Girls finished the regular fixtures at the bottom of the ladder, with a single win from seven games. The competition started off strong for the Under 17 Girls with a convincing 6-0 victory over FNSW Country, however some tough competition meant the Under 17 Girls could not gather the momentum they needed to move further on.
Chloe Hutton topped the scoring list for the Under 17 Girls with four goals from seven appearances.
Under 19 Men
The Queensland Metro Under 19 Men finished the regular fixtures with a mixed bag of results, including three draws which unfortunately meant missing out on a finals berth. Having beaten and drawn against both Grand Finalists over the course of the seven rounds, the Under 19 Men drew in their final game of the season which allowed FNSW Lightning and FNSW Thunder to battle it out for the championship. Jez Lofthouse topped the scoring list for the Under 19 Men, finishing with four goals from six appearances.
AWD Open and Mixed
The AWD QLD Metro Open and Mixed team had a successful tournament with their only loss falling at the hands of fellow Grand Finalists, FNSW Thunder 12-0 in the final round of regular fixtures.
Substantial wins came at the hands of FNSW Lightning, with a 9-2 victory, as well as a 10-2 victory over Tasmania with Jayden Mason scoring four goals. The semi-final saw the AWD Open and Mixed team continue their hot form with an 8-4 victory over Capital Football with Joshua Long nabbing seven goals.
The Grand Final is where their form was haltered with FNSW claiming the championship with a 9-2 victory. Joshua Long scored 17 goals throughout the tournament, only to be pipped by Bradley Southwell of FNSW Thunder, who scored 18 goals in seven appearances.
Grand Final:
FNSW Thunder 9 (B. Eagleson 6’ 25’ 33’, B. Southwell 13’ 22’ 24’ 39’, R. Musumeci 29’, N. Whalen 31’) def. QLD Metro 2 (A. Gabriel-Metta 30’, J. Long 32’)
Image: Jeremy Ng/Football NSW