Gibraltar invited to Malta for futsal tournament

Gibraltar are one of the teams invited to Malta for their fourth ‘International Futsal Tournament’, held at the Corradino Sports Pavilion in Paola, Malta.

Gibraltar, Malta and Serbia will contest the three day competition as preparation for the upcoming 2016 UEFA Futsal EURO qualifiers.

The chance to face Serbia, a top 20 FIFA Futsal nation will be a big test for Gibraltar, who are looking to at least match the three points they picked up in Nice back in 2013 when they travel to Bulgaria to face the hosts, Greece and Denmark.

Malta have played Gibraltar twice before, and both nations hold a victory over each other in those friendlies.

The fixtures (all kick off 18:30 Maltese time)
Serbia – Gibraltar 30/11/14
Malta – Gibraltar 1/12/14

Gibraltar Futsal team drawn with Bulgaria, Greece and Denmark

Today’s 2016 Futsal Euro preliminary draw saw Gibraltar drawn in Group A, alongside hosts Bulgaria, Greece and Denmark.

Whilst Gibraltar are unranked due to not having played the minimum amount of games yet, their opponents are ranked 52nd (Greece), 63rd (Denmark) and 81st (Bulgaria) in the world rankings.

After securing 3rd place last time out in France, Gibraltar have been handed a group that on paper looks tougher than two years ago. However, the national team may look at what Gibraltar Scorpions did in Bosnia last month as an idea of what teams from Gibraltar can do in the indoor game. No doubt new manager Peter Moreno will be looking to at least match the three points from 2012.

The preliminary rounds will be contested between the 13th – 18th January 2015.

Scorpions finish third in maiden UEFA Futsal campaign

Gibraltar Scorpions finished third in their UEFA Futsal Cup preliminary group this week, which was hosted in Sarajevo.

Karl Zarb, who the club had already announced was leaving after this tournament, led Gibraltar’s first ever entry in UEFA’s premier futsal club competition, and performed respectably along the way.

The first match, against eventual group winners Baku United, saw Scorpions lose 10-0 to the English professional champions, who went on to score 26 goals over their three games.

The second match was a much tighter affair against hosts MNK Sarajevo, with the Gib side narrowly losing 10-7 to the Bosnian side.  Popo, who ended up being the Scorpions top scorer, grabbed two goals and missed a penalty, with Pato, Cosa, Jesus Sanchez, Bernal and Jesus Samuel also getting on the scoresheet.

As a result of goal difference, Scorpions entered their final match, against Malmo City, knowing a draw would see them finish above the Swedish side in the group. Popo was the star of the show here, scoring all four of the Scorpions goals, but two late Malmo goals ensured that Zarb did not see off his tenure as Scorpions manager with a win.

The relative success of the Scorpions campaign was showed in them finishing above the Swedish champions, and shows the progress that domestic futsal has made in such a short space of time. With the national team in qualifiers next year, and a new manager in Peter Moreno, hopefully the national team will match, or indeed better their last effort, which also saw them finish third in the preliminaries.

Entertaining weekend of futsal on the Rock

Last week, two official friendlies between the futsal teams of Gibraltar and Malta took place in the Tercentenary Sports Hall (TSH).  The two matches saw both teams gain a win each, as a 4-3 win for Gibraltar on the Thursday was followed by a 4-2 victory for Malta two days later.

 

The original plan for these futsal games were for a three team competition to be held.  However, Wales, the planned third team, pulled out at very short notice (Wales went to a four team tournament in Poland, featuring the hosts, Moldova and Norway instead).  Despite the late cancellation, Malta agreed to play two friendlies against Mario Prescott’s team.

 

Malta, who are the lowest ranked of 106 nations in futsal, (Gibraltar will enter the rankings officially after playing 10 games; so far they have played eight) would provide a good test of Gibraltar’s credentials, being a nation of similar ability.  A sizeable crowd filled the one stand in the Tercentenary Sports Hall, and they were treated to two high quality encounters.

 

The first game saw Gibraltar, wearing their white away kit despite technically being at home, beat their Maltese counterparts 4-3 in a thrilling battle.  Despite Malta’s experience showing in the game, Prescott’s team were never losing in what was only their fourth game with the current squad (the team who went to Nice last year were mainly national football players).  A double from Andrew Lopez, alongside goals from Ian Rodriguez and Duane Robba meant that Gibraltar’s fans could go home happy seeing their nation win.  Malta’s goals came from Jovica Milijic, Cedric Sciberras and Dylan Musu, but they couldn’t grab an equaliser to spoil Gib’s night.

 

The Saturday night saw both teams eager to see off the week in style, but it was Malta who were to deservedly take the spoils in a 4-2 battle.  Despite Gibraltar taking the lead through Jamie Walker, goals from Giancarlo Sammut (x2), Jovica Milijic and Rennie Tanti ensured Malta could relax in the final minutes.  Gib did get a goal back through Andrew Lopez (top scorer from both teams over the two games with three goals), but there was not enough time for a comeback of sizeable proportions.

 

Overall, having international futsal on the Rock was almost a novelty, but it is more than welcome.  The crowds seemed to enjoy the event too; hopefully this translates to higher attendances at domestic futsal games, which are ever Saturday and Sunday at the TSH.

Numerous matches in the pipeline for Gibraltar’s national sides

Ahead of the U19 and U17 national teams travelling to the Czech Republic and Armenia respectively, the GFA look to have organised a number of friendlies for the various national teams in Gibraltar.

 

The news, published on Your Gibraltar TV lists, amongst its matches, two friendlies for the men’s national team against Estonia.  The games, which have been rumoured in Estonian press for a while, are set for March 5th 2014 at the Victoria Stadium, and May 26th 2014 in Tallinn.

 

The women’s national team could potentially play host to a four team tournament in the summer.  UEFA has approached the GFA about having San Marino, Andorra and Liechtenstein bring their women’s teams over for the tournament, which would be a great boost for the local women’s game.

 

The national futsal team, who have already had competitive international experience in UEFA, look set to be heading to Poland, to play a four team tournament against the hosts, Turkey and Belarus.  This will take place between November 15-20 this year.

 

Whilst both the Under 19 and Under 17 teams are in Portugal for a training camp, the Under 19’s look set to take a detour to Bulgaria on their way to the Czech Republic, to face Bulgaria U19 in a friendly.  The Bulgarians, who are also in Under 19 qualifiers as they host Slovakia, Greece and Albania next month, will provide a strong warm up test for Gibraltar.

Groups for this season’s Futsal League decided

*Thanks to the Gibraltar Futsal Facebook page for putting up the information

 

The two groups for this seasons Futsal League have been decided.

 

As this is the inaugural season, there is no division 1 or 2 as of yet.  Instead, two groups of 12 teams have been drawn out.  Each team plays the other teams in their group once, and after that the top six teams from each group goes into Division 1, whilst the bottom six go into Division 2.

 

Additionally, the draw for the Futsal Rock Cup has also been published.  An image of the draw can be found here

 

The groups are as follows:

Group A:

Gib Pheonix, Maccabi Open, Lynx FC, Lions Latino Beach, Cannons FC, Boca Juniors, Young Boys, Glacis United, Gib Scorpions FC, Gib Scorpions Revolution, St Joseph’s White, Leo Bastion FC

 

Group B:

Gibraltar Special Olympics, Lincoln, Lynx 55, Lions FC, St Joseph’s Blue, College Europa, Moroccan United, Lions Forza Cinque, St Joseph’s New Team, Manchester 62 FC, Maccabi Masters, Shamrock FC

Gibraltar to host Malta in futsal match

Gibraltar’s futsal team will face Malta in a friendly match on September 9 at the Tercentenary Sports Hall.

The match, which will provide a good addition to this years National Week celebrations, will see Gibraltar face off against a team who also lost out in the preliminary stage at the futsal qualifiers this summer.

Gibraltar’s futsal coaches have a shortlist of players who will focus purely on futsal, which will mean we won’t get a crossover of national football and futsal players.

Gibraltar to host Montenegro in futsal international

Gibraltar will host their first futsal international in March, as they play host to Montenegro.

 

Montenegro, who defeated Gib 10-2 in the first game of the Futsal European Championship qualifiers, came top of Group A on goal difference, aided by Gibraltar’s credible defeat to France, and according to the Gibraltar Chronicle: “will be coming to the Rock for a Futsal match later in March.”

 

However, national futsal coach Mario Prescott will not have the luxury of picking 11-a-side national players for his team, as Gibraltar Head Coach Allen Bula has told his senior and Under 19 players that they could take up futsal if they wish, but that they would not also be selected for the 11 a side national game.

 

Also of note, a GFA Futsal tournament will be held this weekend, presumably to help with selecting players for the futsal team, and teams of a maximum 10 players, over the age of 16, should register their teams to Gibfutsal@gmail.com

 

Each futsal team will cost £25 – a bargain for what should be a fun, exciting weekend of futsal on the Rock.

Gibraltar 7-5 San Marino

Gibraltar earned a maiden victory in an UEFA recognised competition, but they did it the hard way as they came back from 5-2 down to beat San Marino 7-5.

 

Hat-trick hero Liam Clarke had set off Gibraltar in the right direction, scoring after 51 seconds, but the rest of the half was won by San Marino, who went 3-1 up 10 minutes later. Clarke grabbed a second, but further goals from Michelotti (who also scored a hat-trick) and Belotti ensured the Sammarinense went in with a healthy three goal advantage, and a great chance of securing their own maiden futsal victory.

 

However, the second half was where Gib started their comeback, as George Cabrera scored after just 14 seconds of the restart.  Within five minutes, Gibraltar were level, as Joseph Chipolina got his third goal of the competition, before Liam Clarke secured his hat-trick.

 

Ten further minutes of domination by Mario Prescott’s team was finally rewarded as Lee Casciaro put Gibraltar 6-5 up, before Roy Chipolina secured the victory with two minutes to spare.

 

It is fair to say that Gibraltar showed both sides of their play either half, as the team who played Montenegro seemed to contest the first half, before the outfit that competed respectably against France came out for the second half, to get the five goals and earn Gibraltar’s maiden victory.

 

All in all, the last four days have been a very important adventure for Gibraltar, which will teach them a lot about the challenges that UEFA football bring, regardless of whether it is on the 11-a-side pitch or the futsal arena.  Valuable lessons will be bought back home, and hopefully this is the first of many adventures around Europe for Gibraltar.

Gibraltar vs San Marino – Preview

Gibraltar vs San Marino – 26th January (18:00 CET) – Hall of Sports Charles Erhman, Nice – Group A

After Thursday’s respectable 6-2 defeat to hosts France, Gibraltar will be looking to try and get their maiden UEFA win, as they face off in the ‘wooden spoon’ match against San Marino.  San Marino themselves will be looking for their first win in an UEFA recognised futsal match, having lost in their first eight attempts to do so, and will likely have this game down as a reasonable opportunity to get three points.

 

Gib team news:

Again, no fresh injury concerns for Mario Prescott’s team, and the days rest on Friday would no doubt have helped any sore legs to recover.

 

Opposition manager:

San Marino manager Umberto de Gregorio has been involved in the management of the futsal game throughout the 21st century, as the Italian was coach of futsal side Romagna Iniziative Cesena a decade ago.  He took the post as San Marino manager in June 2012.

 

Opposition Dangerman:

Fabio Gasperoni – The 29 year old forward is one of the few San Marino players to have scored competitively for the national team, and was unlucky not to do against Montenegro, as he missed a penalty.  However, he’ll certainly pose a threat to Gibraltar’s defence, and keep Jordan Perez in goal on his toes.

 

Opposition last five results:

vs Montenegro (L 11-0)

@ France (L 12-0)

vs England (L 5-3)

@ Latvia (L 9-1)

@ Cyprus (L 3-1)

 

Other Group A fixture:

France vs Montenegro (20:00 CET)