Last Friday morning at the Sydney Olympic Sports Centre, in the heartland of Australian futsal, a team of young guns from south of the border, who’d ridden into town earlier in the week, triumphed 5-2 in a final showdown against a formidable Queensland Metro outfit, to capture the U13, FFA national futsal title.
Throughout the week-long tournament, which culminated in Friday’s final, the Victorians swept aside all challenges from the length and breadth of the country, laying waste to opposition defences with a remarkable 56 goals scored and just eight conceded in the six games leading up to the final.
These wins included a 7-1 crushing of its nemesis in last year’s final, the reigning champ, NSW Metro Thunder.
Having returned to Melbourne with the trophy, Victorian State U13 futsal coach Harry Amiridis and members of his squad took time out to reflect on their successful tournament.
Defender Nicholas Kyranakis says that winning the 2016 national title ” was awesome … it’s my best achievement in soccer”.
“It’s a whole different feeling (from winning other titles),” skipper of the team, Nick Theodosiou, comments. “A whole different calibre. Although we’re used to winning titles, there’s been nothing this big.”
“To be the best U13 futsal team in Australia, is unbelievable,” forward Dennis Menelaou adds with a smile.
With the experience of last year’s campaign under their belts, together with a meticulous eight-week preparation, and some talented additions to the squad including sharpshooter and eventual Golden Boot winner Giovanni Stellitano, the young Victorians dominated the early rounds and lead-up finals.
Menelaou says that, from the outset, “we wanted to be the best team there. So we wanted to go up there and people to say, ‘Geez, those Victorians are good'”.
Despite dominating the lead-up matches, the Victorians were tested in the grand final by the Queenslanders. The Vics had to draw on not only their technical, physical and tactical prowess, but also their mental strength and team spirit to win the trophy.
Kyranakis, who won the medal for Most Valuable Player in the final, sets the scene.
“The night before the final, the boys had to get to bed early. Before sleep we had a tactics session and got all the nerves out. I don’t think anyone had any issues sleeping. When we walked onto the pitch, it was amazing, with the crowd chanting our names, which got us pumped and turned all our nerves into hyper energy, ready to smash the game.”
That energy had Kyranakis on the front foot early, and the defender opened the scoring in the grand final in the third minute with a powerful right foot drive from outside the area.
However, the Queenslanders reacted strongly and scored twice to lead 2-1 at the break. For once the Victorians were finding it difficult to penetrate the opposition defence.
Skipper Theodosiou describes the first half as “a bit of a nightmare”.
“Once we went down in the first half, we wanted it to stop so we could have a talk. It was like a lifetime – it took ages.”
“At half time we were down 2-1 which we hadn’t been throughout the whole tournament,” says Kyranakis. “We were extremely nervous, but our coach told us what we needed to do and we did our best.
“We put everything we had into the second half, because we knew everything we had trained for was for this moment. Once again we had plenty of nerves coming back onto the pitch. But we had a positive mindset and believed in each other and that we could win. Once we scored the equaliser we knew it was our game.”
Forward Stellitano scored the equaliser early in the second half, followed by a brace from captain Theodosiou and the sealer from Menelaou. At the other end, the Vics’ keeper Connor Phillips made some crucial saves to keep the Queenslanders scoreless in the second half.
Looking back over the tournament, the players speak of the chemistry in the team as being a major factor in winning the national title.
“I think that’s what led us to win,” Theodosiou comments. “A love for each other – the chemistry. We all played for each other. We wanted to do it for each other.”
Kyranakis agrees, adding “and we got a few new players like Giovanni”.
Theodosiou follows up with: “Talented players that fit in perfectly. They wanted to work for the team as well.”
Coach Amiridis believes a number of factors helped the Victorian team succeed this year.
“Where do I start? I think their professionalism. Basically, the way they follow instructions, and the game plan. They way they’re prepared.” He also praised the players’ maturity.
“Although they’re just 13-year-old boys, they’re mature beyond their years.”
With his background as a sports scientist and PE teacher, Amiridis says the players were able to access the latest recovery methods throughout the tournament including pool, ice baths, stretching, active recovery and massage.
“Overall it was a great team effort from everyone involved including players, coaches, support staff and parents. Having this support assisted in our success.”
Another key factor for Amiridis was the fact that the majority of the squad was able to participate in futsal throughout the year. Indeed, many of the current squad play competitive futsal for Melbourne Dragons, where Amiridis is head coach.
“Some of the players participated in futsal throughout the year and all participated in futsal training and competition at the end of the (outdoor) football season. If it wasn’t for this contact I don’t believe we would have been successful,” he says.
“Every player should be coached properly by a reputable futsal coach and be part of a futsal club, like they do it in NSW. In NSW football players are associated with futsal clubs and play in a futsal season. Their success is shown as NSW usually dominate at national futsal and football competitions. Victoria needs to follow suit in order to keep developing quality players.”
Speaking of quality players, Amiridis says of his recently- crowned national U13 champions, “if they stick together, I have no doubt this team will be successful in every single tournament”.
“You can only build with these guys.”
Players interested in playing futsal at a club level can contact Amiridis at melbournedragonsfutsal@gmail.com