A big weekend is looming in the Capital Futsal League as the competition heads for the Christmas breaks with four matches set to take place that will go a long way to deciding the make-up of the top four and the finals places which will be decided in 2023.
The ANU Apex and South Canberra Swift face a pair of pivotal matches against each other within the space of 24 hours as they go head-to-head on Friday evening before repeating the clash on Saturday afternoon, playing their earlier postponed match to kick-start a trio of games that day.
There’s a possibility that the Swift could find themselves top of the table following the second match if they are successful in both encounters, a maximum six point return would push them two points clear of the North Canberra Fire whose match follows the second Swift-Apex entanglement.
Conversely, a double Apex success would mean they would move onto eleven points and bring themselves right back into the mix for the league title as well as securing themselves in the top four. In short, it’s all to play for in this double-header!
The North Canberra Fire have set the benchmark so far in 2022 and they will once more face a huge hurdle in their quest for the crown when they meet West Canberra Lightning on Saturday afternoon.
Having seemingly found a way to keep on winning, the Fire, buoyed by the goals of league leading scorers Maxx Green (18), Samuel Thomson (11) and Luca Florez (9) have been in superb form. Even when behind, the league’s leading goal-getters have found a way to bounce back and are four points clear at the time of writing.
Lightning got back to winning ways last week, convincingly seeing off ANU Apex having lost to the Swift in Round 6 and are acutely aware that a positive result will not only drag in the Fire at the top but will increase their own chances of success.
When these two met earlier in the season the match ended in a 6-6 draw, a veritable classic that had the crowd engrossed from first kick until last. The expectation is for something very much in a similar vein here.
The weekend concludes on Sunday when UC Stars and Queanbeyan-Palerang Power meet in a repeat of their Round 3 match which concluded in a 3-3 draw providing the Power with their only point of the season and the Stars with one of the two that they have accrued.
Both still have an outside chance of making the top four should they manage to string together a run of results, but that would need to start with this encounter. A maximum haul is essential for either if they are to make inroads into the top four, and they would also need other results to go in their favour.
All being said, this should be an entertaining clash between two teams who possess plenty of talent.
MEN
Friday 9 December
ANU Apex v South Canberra Swift (18:00)
Saturday 10 December
South Canberra Swift v ANU Apex (15:00)
North Canberra Fire v West Canberra Lightning (17:00)
Sunday 11 December
UC Stars v Queanbeyan-Palerang Power (17:00)
TABLE
| TEAM | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS | |
| 1 | Fire | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 62 | 28 | +34 | 16 |
| 2 | Swift | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 40 | 19 | +21 | 12 |
| 3 | Lightning | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 34 | 18 | +16 | 11 |
| 4 | Apex | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 32 | 32 | 0 | 5 |
| 5 | Stars | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 29 | 48 | -19 | 2 |
| 6 | Power | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 68 | -52 | 1 |
LEADING SCORERS
18 Maxx GREEN (Fire)
11 Samuel THOMSON (Fire)
9 Luca FLOREZ (Fire)
7 Alen JAMES (Swift), Edward MCCARTHY (Swift), Patrick SHORE (Apex), Nicholas SUBASIC (Lightning)
6 Riley BROWN (Fire), Daniel FULTON (Lightning), Jackson PAESLER (Swift), Bailey SORENSON (Fire),Luke STEVENS (Apex)
5 Michael ADAMS (Swift), Lucas ALCAZAR-STEVENS (Swift), Clyde HOLO (Stars), Juan Sebastian OSPINA (Swift), Kai THORNTON (Apex), Own GOALS
4 Jake FITZGERALD (Apex), Johnny HAJDU (Stars), Brandon HAWKER (Fire), Brad MALONE (Fire)
3 Hassan ALNUWAYSIR (Power), Ben BASSER-SILK (Lightning), Ashley BLOUNT (Lightning), Vinnie BRASIL (Stars), Jenno CERUTI (Apex), Sherab GUO (Stars), David JENKINS (Power), Michael RINAUDO (Stars), Michael SYDNEY (Lightning), Blaise VLAZLOVSKI (Apex)
2 Andrew AITCHISON (Stars), Julian BRITTON (Apex), Sam CARTERS (Lightning), Alistair DAVIS (Fire), Jason FARRELL (Lighting), Connor FALUSI (Stars), Brett FORWARD (Lightning), Hamed JADEER (Stars), Phakedi MANDA (Swift), Michael MOSCARITOLO (Stars), Sam ROESTBAKKEN (Power), Will SHEPPARD (Lightning), James WILSON (Power)
1 Michael CAHILL (Power), Arnold CHOI (Power), Daniel FELIZZI (Power), Marco GAYER (Power), Lachlan HARRINGTON (Stars), Robert MCKAY (Fire), Braulio MELO (Apex), Bruno MELO (Apex), Michael NOLAN (Lightning), Zach PRITCHARD (Stars), Marko RATHOUSKI (Stars), Daniel ROBERTS (Swift), Martin SANTOS (Power), Jordan SELEMS (Power), Robert TKATCHENKO (Swift)
