Futsal – a lesser known IC success story

We headed into this crucial match against London Met knowing that we would likely have to win both of our remaining games to finish top and gain promotion. There was excitement from the first whistle, with captain Alex tapping the ball in from Ife’s cutback in the first opening seconds. This quick goal was only bettered by the eleven seconds it took Christian Eriksen to score against United the same evening. Before London Met could get into the game, futsal stalwarts Barry Allen (fastest man alive) and Ife had both added a goal each to their tallies in the race to become our top scorer. Daniele de Rossi-wannabe Tommaso and vice-captain Josh Mendes both fired in from distance, and Alan finished off after a neat 1-2 with Alex, who got his second goal by lashing in a rebound. Pleasingly, in this match we addressed our ongoing problem of not taking our first-half chances, leading 7-2 at the break (iz great success).

“IC Futsal are now one step closer to promotion!”

We were not playing the expansive, rapid passing game (for comparison see Barcelona 2010-11) that had been so effective in previous matches, because we simply did not need to. Klopp would have loved our gegenpressing, closing down the opposition quickly, and winning the ball back high up the pitch, leading to many shooting chances. While it has been characteristic of our performances this season to grow stronger in the second half, in this game we lowered our intensity and lost control of the match.

Our magnificent keeper Alejandro (please don’t leave us x), a futsal natural, was being worked hard as they pulled it back to 8-6, at which point we woke up again. Josh completed his hat-trick, and Will justified all the time spent trying flicks in training by finally scoring one in a match. Ed and Keidi got stuck into tackles and kept them at bay for the rest of the contest. For Ed’s excellent defence he was award man of the match along with Josh whose hat-trick secured the game. The deserved victory puts us on five wins from six league matches, and we now await our final match against Queen Mary’s. By the time that comes around, it is likely to be a head-to-head title decider.