Three into one simply does not fit. But that is the permutation to be sorted this weekend in the final round of the Capital Futsal League. One of ANU Apex, UC Stars and Queanbeyan-Palerang Power will advance to the semi-finals, whilst the season will be done for the other two.
ANU Apex have the first opportunity to stake their claim and make it moot for everyone else when they face fellow challengers Queanbeyan-Palerang Power on Friday evening at Daramalan College. A win and they are securely into the top four spot.
Should the Power take the victory, which would be only their second success of the inaugural CFL campaign and given that the two teams fought out a magnificent 5-5 epic only a fortnight ago that is a real possibility, they would move into fourth place ahead of a season defining match on Saturday for UC Stars.
Stars line-up against a West Canberra Lightning side that have already secured a semi-final with free-scoring North Canberra Fire and might, as we saw during their Round 9 fixture, experiment with line-up and fifth-man at some stage in this contest,
Whether that opens the door for the Stars remains to be seen, but it certainly did in their last match-up, the Stars taking advantage to turn a 2-1 lead into a final 4-1 result and three precious points that brought them right back into the hunt for the top four.
The final match of the regular season promises to be an absolute stunner as the two top-scoring sides in the competition, the North Canberra Fire and League Champions South Canberra Swift go head-to-head on Sunday evening.
Both teams have netted an impressive 77 times this season, the Swift having conceded three less than the Fire and having amassed five more points with only one loss compared to two for the Fire.
Swift defeated the Fire in their last encounter, coming out on top 6-3 in what was an exhilarating encounter and with nothing really on the line, both teams are free to play without constraints. And that should make a for an incredible spectacle.
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Friday 3 February
Queanbeyan-Palerang Power v ANU Apex (18:00)
Saturday 4 February
West Canberra Lightning v UC Stars (17:00)
Sunday 5 February
North Canberra Fire v South Canberra Swift (17:00)
TABLE
TEAM | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS | |
1 | Swift | 9 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 77 | 37 | +40 | 24 |
2 | Fire | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 77 | 40 | +37 | 19 |
3 | Lightning | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 47 | 26 | +21 | 17 |
4 | Apex | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 47 | 68 | -21 | 6 |
5 | Stars | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 47 | 67 | -20 | 5 |
6 | Power | 9 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 31 | 88 | -57 | 5 |
LEADING SCORERS
22 Maxx GREEN (Fire)
13 Alen JAMES (Swift)
12 Lucas ALCAZAR-STEVENS (Swift), Edward MCCARTHY (Swift), Samuel THOMSON (Fire)
11 Jackson PAESLER (Swift)
10 Luca FLOREZ (Fire), Luke STEVENS (Apex)
9 Juan Sebastian OSPINA (Swift), Patrick SHORE (Apex), Nicholas SUBASIC (Lightning)
7 Daniel FULTON (Lightning), Johnny HAJDU (Stars), Blaise VLAZLOVSKI (Apex), Own GOALS
6 Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (Power), Michael ADAMS (Swift), Riley BROWN (Fire), Marco GAYER (Power), Brandon HAWKER (Fire), Bailey SORENSON (Fire)
5 Vinnie BRASIL (Stars), Alistair DAVIS (Fire), Jake FITZGERALD (Apex), Brett FORWARD (Lightning), Sherab GUO (Stars), Clyde HOLO (Stars), Jayde JAMES-WARD (Stars), Phakedi MANDA (Swift), Brad MALONE (Fire), Michael SYDNEY (Lightning), Kai THORNTON (Apex)
4 Ashley BLOUNT (Lightning), Michael MOSCARITOLO (Stars), Michael NOLAN (Lightning), Daniel ROBERTS (Swift), James WILSON (Power)
3 Ben BASSER-SILK (Lightning), Jenno CERUTI (Apex), Arnold CHOI (Power), Elie DARWICH (Fire), David JENKINS (Power), Marko RATHOUSKI (Stars), Michael RINAUDO (Stars)
2 Andrew AITCHISON (Stars), Julian BRITTON (Apex), Sam CARTERS (Lightning), Jason FARRELL (Lighting), Connor FALUSI (Stars), Lachlan HARRINGTON (Stars), Hamed JADEER (Stars), Braulio MELO (Apex), Bruno MELO (Apex), Vanh NGUYEN (Swift), Sam ROESTBAKKEN (Power), Will SHEPPARD (Lightning)
1 Michael CAHILL (Power), Caleb CULLEN-RUA (Power), Nic DAHL (Swift), Grant DAVOREN (Lightning), Ryan DE VRIES (Apex), Daniel FELIZZI (Power), Marco GAYER (Power), Mahmoud HALAWANI (Power), Robert MCKAY (Fire), Zach PRITCHARD (Stars), Martin SANTOS (Power), Jordan SELEMS (Power), Robert TKATCHENKO (Swift), Herbert YEUNG (Apex)