Hummel F-League Series Three

[adelaidefusion]

The 2012 Hummel F-League is throwing up more twists and turns than an Alfred Hitchcock flick after a weekend of high drama and high scoring at the AIS Training Halls in Canberra.

Sydney Series-2 threw up a cool century of goals but Series-3 had to go one better for a 101-goal effort on the back of a free-for-all 15-8 result between Parramatta Blues over St Albans Strikers

And while home fans celebrated a second straight Boomerangs trifecta, the collective gasp came when East Coast Heat held unbeaten leaders Dural 1-1 to peg the Warriors back a notch.

Dural stand tall on 25 competition points but Boomerangs (21) have closed the gap ahead of their salivating Series-4 opener at Melbourne’s YMCA Derrimut on August 18. What a real humdinger of a match that will be!

The finals race is hot and nasty with Parramatta (15 points), East Coast (14) and Vic Vipers (13) bunched together in a dash to the line and three big matches between the sides still to come.

St Albans (8) are stranded in no-man’s land, while Heart won their first game (against Jaguars 6-1) to draw the two teams level at the bottom of the table. F-League southerners now occupy the bottom four places.

On the scoring front Dural machine Jarrod Basger bulldozed his way to 18 league goals, followed by Boomerangs ace Daniel Fulton (15) and Warriors star Greg Giovenali (10), while a six-goal effort from Gavin Schipp (8) against Strikers catapulted the Blues captain into a top-five spot alongside team-mate Goran Ljuboja and Dural’s Nathan Niski; Vipers trio Jonathan Barientos, Jason Barientos and Adam Cooper and East Coast’s Chris Zeballos have seven goals apiece.

Another 22 players added their names to 2012 Hummel F-League scoresheets following Series-3, contributing to an entertaining competition tally of 287 goals (one shy of eight per game).

The competition heads back to Melbourne for Series-4 games at YMCA Derrimut on August 18-19 and you can follow all the action as it happens via Facebook (FNSWFLeague) or Twitter (@thefleague).

And keep an eye out for a special three-part story on Futsal in Australia. It examines the sport’s birth, rise, fall and resurrection, all in three decades, including first-hand accounts of the 1980’s televised indoor soccer league, the Indooroos glory days, and Futsalroos failings and resurrection, while world cup veteran Erkin Osman, code administrators and F-League coaches discuss the code’s exciting future. The report will feature over the next two months.


Round 7

Boomerangs tame Vipers

Boomerangs got the AIS Training Halls bouncing with an early Saturday morning 5-2 win over Vic Vipers in Series-3 of the 2012 Hummel F-League.

A large and vocal Canberra crowd braved chilly conditions to create a hearty atmosphere to kick-off round seven and it didn’t take long for the first big cheer of the day as Jonathan Ciminelli finished well at the back post for the home side’s opening score.

Vipers absorbed plenty of pressure and then hit back with a vengeance, captain Jonathan Barientos leveling the scores and the Victorians taking a 2-1 lead moments later to deck the halls with boughs of silence.

The quiet lasted just seconds as a quick Daniel Fogarty equaliser pegged it back to 2-2 and, backed by some raucous support, hometown hero Daniel Fulton banged in one and then added a penalty to elevate the hosts to 4-2 halftime leaders.

The second half was a more measured affair and only a second Fogarty goal troubled the scorers as Boomerangs ran out strong 5-2 victors and make it four F-League wins on the trot. It also avenged their 4-1 opening series loss to the Vics in Melbourne.

Boomerangs 5 (Jonathan Ciminelli 1’, Daniel Fogarty 14’,27’, Daniel Fulton 17’,21’) defeated Vic Vipers 2 (Jonathan Barientos 7’, Mirza Pedic 10’)


Blues overwhelm Heart

Parramatta Blues were given a good run for their 6-3 money against win-less Melbourne Heart on a cool Canberra morning on Saturday.

Danny Ngaluafe put Parramatta ahead early but Konrad Machoy responded to restore parity for Melbourne in the seventh minute and they might’ve taken the lead if not for an acrobatic save from Blues keeper Lionel De Souza.

The Blues went back in front on the quarter-hour through Justin McLeay only for Heart’s Adrian Fruscalzo to almost immediately deadlock the teams again, 2-2 at the break.

Melbourne looked like breaking the stalemate with a good second-half run on goal but a last-ditch Parramatta tackle turned the tables, Futsalroo Lachlan Wright scoring at the other end not long after.

The signs were ominous when the Blues hit both posts and a Goran Ljuboja 30th-minute double established a 5-2 buffer, extended by Tuan Cao in the last five minutes of play, Machoy grabbing a Heart consolation to make it 6-3 in the end.

Parramatta Blues 6 (Danny Ngaluafe 2’, Justin McLeay 15’, Lachlan Wright 27’, Goran Ljuboja 30’,30’, Tuan Cao 36’) defeated Melbourne Heart 3 (Konrad Machoy 7’,40’, Adrian Fruscalzo 17’)


Warriors massacre Jaguars

2012 Hummel F-League leaders Dural Warriors maintained the rage in a 7-0 whitewash of Jaguars at the AIS Training Halls on Saturday afternoon.

Chris Polkinghorne opened Dural’s account and a Jarrod Basger quarter-hour double and cracking long range Rhys Giovenali effort made it 4-0 to Warriors at the interval.

The goals kept coming in the second term as Dean Lockhart and a Nathan Niski brace made it a neat 7-0 for Dural.

Dural Warriors 7 (Chris Polkinghorne 5’, Jarrod Basger 13’,14’, Rhys Giovenali 15’, Dean Lockhart 27’, Nathan Niski 31’,32) defeated Jaguars 0


Heat burns Strikers

East Coast Heat broke through a tough opening half-hour to blitz St Albans Strikers 6-0 at Canberra on Saturday afternoon.

After a fairly even start Chris Hanly finally gave Heat the lead four minutes before the interval, and it took a Chris Zeballos goal and cracking Hanly far-post volley to finally crack the St Albans resolve within minutes of the restart.

New East Coast signing Hisato Komatsu extended their lead with an electric four-minute hat-trick to stamp a comfortable 6-0 victory.

East Coast Heat 6 (Chris Hanly 16’,26’, Chris Zeballos 22’, Hisato Komatsu 32’,35’,36’) defeated St Albans Strikers 0


Round 8

Vipers strike down Jaguars

Vic Vipers bounced off the canvas to annihilate Jaguars 9-1 in their Saturday evening round-8 Hummel F-League match-up at the AIS training halls.

Beaten by their ACT hosts in an early-morning ambush the Vipers lashed out against Jaguars, Mirza Pedic striking early and goals to team-mates Jason Barientos, Fernando Moraes and Heip Tran making it a quick-fire 4-0 before Jaguars captain Miguel Barrigos fired one back the other way.

But nothing could stop the Vics and De Moraes tapped in from close range to round out a 5-1 halftime advantage.

Jaguars were better organised in the second-half but a 9-1 Vipers win was finished off with goals to Pedic, Barientos, Tran and Adam Cooper in the final eight minutes of play.

Vic Vipers 9 (Mirza Pedic 1’,32’, Jason Barientos 9’,35’, Fernando Moraes 9’,17’, Heip Tran 13’,40’, Adam Cooper 36’) defeated Jaguars Futbol Sala 1 (Miguel Barrigos 17’)


Boomerangs break Heart

A steamy Saturday night affair between Boomerangs and Melbourne Heart definitely got the 250-strong crowd hot and sweaty as the hosts crawled their way to a 4-2 win over the fired-up cellar-dwellers.

A tentative start from the hosts helped put a spring in Heart’s step and, after going close on several occasions, Konrad Machoy put Melbourne in front 1-0 at halftime.

The AIS Halls were buzzing and murmurs reached fever peak when a top-shelf second-half save from Boomerangs keeper Ashley Collins kept the home side in touch, Heart with all the running.

With everyone on edge Sean O’Neil finally broke the tension with a goal that had the ACT fans in raptures.

Not to be overawed Melbourne’s Lev Lewis hit the post before a Daniel Fulton goal pushed Boomerangs ahead 2-1, but before anyone could bat an eyelid Heart drew level again through Matthew Vrajovski.

With the game on the line, up stepped Ryan Keir who hammered Boomerangs back into a 3-2 lead and finished off again for an exciting 4-2 victory.

Boomerangs 4 (Sean O’Neil, Daniel Fulton, Ryan Keir x2) defeated Melbourne Heart 2 (Konrad Machoy, Matthew Vrajovski)


Blues outgun Strikers

A staggering 23-goal gunfight sorted out a 15-8 slugfest won by Parramatta Blues over St Albans Strikers at the AIS Halls in a Sunday morning shootout that resembled The Magnificent Seven.

Jordan Guerreiro put Parramatta on the board first but Jusuf Avdic equalised for St Albans before Alija Redzepovic put the Strikers in front 2-1 in the 12th minute.

Three more goals followed within a minute as Blues duo Rodrigo Barbosa and Gavin Schipp cancelled Marcos Barbosa’s strike at the other end to level the scores at 3-3.

In an ugly defensive display Parramatta scored another five before the half was up, Barbosa and Schipp adding two more each and Guerreiro scoring his second to make it 8-3 at oranges.

St Albans weren’t done with and an Avdic second made it 8-4 after the break, but two more Schipp goals, a fourth from Barbosa, plus Daniel Fornito and Goran Ljuboja scores took Parramatta to a commanding 13-4 buffer before the Strikers stopped the rot with a Yaw Otuo strike.

Schipp then bagged his sixth for the game and Fornito grabbed a second, while St Albans consolation goals to Irzad Slovacek, Zoran Ninkovic and Jose Portillo finalised a 15-8 scoreline. It was a massive turnaround for the Blues, who’d lost 4-0 to the Strikers in Melbourne Series-1.

Parramatta Blues 15 (Jordan Guerreiro 3’,18’, Rodrigo Barbosa 13’,18’,19’,30’, Gavin Schipp 13’,17’, 17’,27’,28’,34’, Daniel Fornito 31’,37’, Goran Ljuboja 33’) defeated St Albans Strikers 8 (Jusuf Avdic 7’,23’, Alija Redzepovic 12’, Marcos Barbosa 13’, Yaw Otuo 33’, Irzad Slovacek 35’, Zoran Ninkovic 37’, Jose Portillo 38’)


East Coast hold Dural to draw

There wasn’t as many goals scored as the previous game but Dural Warriors and East Coast Heat fought out an epic 1-1 Sunday morning stalemate that was just as tense as it was entertaining.

The all-Sydney affair was a nail-biting contest as both sides probed for weaknesses and it was left to league-leading scorer Jarrod Basger to bust through for a 1-0 Dural lead late in the first half.

East Coast were more than competitive and pulled level via Aaron Cimitile just before halftime and, with Robbie Maiorana having a blinder in goals for Heat, the game was thrown wide open when Warriors player Rhys Giovenali was sent off for two yellow cards.

East Coast must’ve hit the goal-frame a half-dozen times with their player advantage but actually both sides had great chances to pinch a match-winner; Basger thought he’d found one when he hit the back of the net a split-second after fulltime, but the goal was disallowed and a thrilling match ended 1-1.

The draw ended Dural’s seven match winning sequence to start the 2012 Hummel F-League.

Dural Warriors 1 (Jarrod Basger 17’) drew with East Coast Heat 1 (Aaron Cimitile)


Round 9

Heart beat Jaguars

Melbourne Heart claimed their debut Hummel F-League win with a dominant 6-1 disposal of Jaguars in a classic Canberra Sunday matinee.

Bouyed by decent showings against top-three Parramatta and Boomerangs, Melbourne hit the ground running against Jaguars and created plenty of chances before Konrad Machoy and Gianni Romano buried theirs for a deserved 2-0 Heart lead.

Jaguars regrouped and responded through Jermain Deng to make it nice and tight at halftime, Melbourne leading 2-1, but new Heart signing Resit Culguloglu increased their lead straight after the break and a frustrating own goal from Jaguars Joaquin Jimenez lifted Melbourne to 4-1 up.

Culguloglu scored his second and Luke Cardamone also added his name to the scoresheet to complete a well-played 6-1 win.

The victory was sweet relief for Heart after eight straight losses, but they were better generally across the Series-3 board, scoring 11 and conceding 11 in games that included two top-three match-ups. That’s a good sign as they face East Coast and Dural in Melbourne Series-4.

It was the fifth successive Jaguars loss and they just didn’t show up in the nation’s capital, scoring a measly two goals and conceding 22 in a gloomy Canberra effort. It doesn’t get any easier as Jaguars play top-four teams back in Melbourne next month.

Melbourne Heart 6 (Konrad Machoy 11’, Gianni Romano 13’, Resit Culguloglu 21’,36’, Joaquin Jimenez own goal 28’, Luke Cardamone 39’) defeated Jaguars Futbol Sala 1 (Jermain Deng 19’)


East Coast edge Vipers

East Coast Heat and Vic Vipers fought out a titanic 4-3 battle at the AIS Training Halls on Sunday afternoon in a thrilling game won narrowly by the Sydney-siders.

East Coast were on a high after holding undefeated F-League leaders Dural to a 1-1 draw and started the match with vigour, Futsalroo Chris Zeballos tapping in at the back post to give Heat the early sprint.

The Vics fired straight back with an Adam Cooper scorcher but East Coast duly responded through some silky smooth Aaron Cimitile skills to restore a 2-1 fifth-minute advantage.

The tide turned when Dino Redzepovic and Fernando De Moraes goals either side of halftime put the Melbournites ahead 3-2 but Andres Gomez leveled and Takuya Umeda helped Heat retake the lead and set up an enthralling last 10 minutes of play, East Coast hanging on for an excellent 4-3 win.

The victory completed an unbeaten weekend for fourth-placed East Coast and their run could continue in Melbourne Series-4 when they face bottom sides Jaguars and Heart before match-ups against Parramatta, Boomerangs and Vipers to close out the season.

The result dropped Vipers to fifth and they face a treacherous road ahead, taking on third-placed side Parramatta and leaders Dural in Melbourne next month and ending their season with an intriguing East Coast rematch in Sydney.

East Coast Heat 4 (Chris Zeballos 3’, Aaron Cimitile 5’, Andres Gomez 28’, Takuya Umeda 29’) defeated Vic Vipers 3 (Adam Cooper 3’, Dino Redzepovic 19’, Fernando De Moraes 23’)


Warriors subdue Strikers

Dural Warriors kept a strong grip on the 2012 Hummel F-League with a testy 7-3 victory over St Albans Strikers on Sunday afternoon.

Shaken from their shock 1-1 draw with East Coast, Dural came out firing against St Albans and a Jarrod Basger brace plus Nathan Clissold and Michael Figueira scores raced the ladder leaders to a spritely 4-0 start.

Late first-half goals to Alija Redzepovic and Yaw Otuo got the Strikers back into it and when Redzepovic cancelled Daine Merrin’s Dural goal minutes into the second term it underpinned a tense 5-3 Warriors lead with 17 minutes to play.

Both sides had their opportunities and Basger made sure of Dural’s win with his 18th league goal (and third hat-trick of the season) coming three minutes from the end, Chris Polkinghorne putting the finishing touches on a hard-fought 7-3 victory.

The win put Dural back on track after their 1-1 hiccup against East Coast. Basger has scored in his last eight starts and the support cast has tallied a staggering 61 team-goal total, which keeps them in prime position ahead of an epic round-10 top-of-the-table clash with Boomerangs (four points behind Warriors) to kick-off Melbourne Series-4.

On the other side it was a forgettable Canberra Series-3 for St Albans, who haven’t won a match since round-3 and sit six points outside a top-four spot with five games left to play. They conceded a crazy 28 goals in Australia’s capital and still have to tackle top-two sides Boomerangs and Dural in the run home.

Dural Warriors 7 (Jarrod Basger 1’,10’,37’, Nathan Clissold 7’, Michael Figueira 16’, Daine Merrin 23’, Chris Polkinghorne 40’) defeated St Albans Strikers 3 (Alija Redzepovic 18’,23’, Yaw Otuo 20’)


Boomerangs bamboozle Blues

Boomerangs finished the Series-3 weekend the same way it started with a convincing 7-0 win over finals hopefuls Parramatta Blues in front of a large Sunday evening crowd in Canberra.

The two sides traded blows in a terrific opening quarter-hour before foul trouble forced Boomerangs keeper Angelo Konstantinou into a terrific penalty save from Parramatta’s national star Lachlan Wright.

The athletic stop sparked the home side into action and spurred on by an enthusiastic crowd Mark Symington scored the opener, and a quick counter attack saw Daniel Fogarty find Symington at the back post for a simple tap-in to double the advantage within a minute.

Fogarty made it 3-0 a minute later and great lead-up play from Ryan Keir set up Callum Smith for another one before Konstantinou showed off his side’s confidence when he went the length of the court for a fifth Boomerangs goal that sent the home fans crazy.

The second half was a more even contest and Keir and Daniel Fulton goals rounded out an emphatic 7-0 rout.

Boomerangs are on fire and six straight league wins (39 goals scored and eight conceded) have them breathing down Dural’s neck as the 2012 Hummel F-League heads toward a monstrous Series-4 top-two match-up in Melbourne on August 18. The ACT-side completes its season with a tough Sydney double against top-four East Coast and Parramatta.

The Blues were completely shellshocked by Boomerangs to end a helpful four-match winning run, enough to lift them into third place on the ladder. But they face closest rivals Vic Vipers, Jaguars and East Coast in Melbourne before finishing off a tough run home with a Sydney derby against leaders Dural and Boomerangs rematch.

Boomerangs 7 (Mark Symington 15’,16’, Daniel Fogarty 17’, Callum Smith 19’, Angelo Konstantinou 19’, Ryan Keir 27’, Daniel Fulton 40’) defeated Parramatta Blues 0