Here are the offical starting lists for the first fixture (6pm) for OFC Futsal Championship Match Day 2 between Vanuatu and New Caledonia.

Last night (Match Day 1) Vanuatu pushed host nation Fiji hard for the entirety of their tournament opening encounter before losing 1-2 to the hosts.

In the night’s second game New Caledonia gave defending OFC Futsal Champs the Solomon Islands a massive scare as they led at halftime 3-2. That was before the Kurukuru found another gear after the break to run red hot scoring five unanswered goals for an 8-3 win.

Both teams desperately need a win tonight to keep their tournament hopes alive.

New Caledonia: 20. Arnaud LLAMBRICH (GK); 5. Anderson PAULIN; 8. Ismael TCHOVAMILI; 10. Loic CAUNES; 11. Ivann POUROURO;

Vanuatu: 1. Daniel MANSALE (GK) ; 6. Terry QUARE ; 9. Louis DOMINIQUE; 10. Vira Jack ALA; 11. Ben EDWARD

A win for either Solomon Islands or Fiji in tonight’s later game (8.10pm) will ensure them a place in the final.

Fiji: 1. Emori RAGATA (GK); 3. Sandeep NAIR; 8. Aisea Dauivalu CODRO; 9. Kamal HASSAN ; 10. Uraia Raimulo LOKI;

Solomon Islands: 1. Alick LIOKA (GK); 3. Elliot RAGOMO; 7. James EGETA; 9. Micah LEA’ALAFA; 10. Stanley PUAIRANA;

New Caledonia and Vanuatu will be desperate for their first points of the OFC Futsal Championship when Match Day 2 gets underway in Suva this evening while Fiji take on a spirited Solomon Islands team who are also celebrating their National Independence Day.

Yesterday the Vodafone Arena crowd spurred the hosts to a 2-1 victory over Vanuatu in the championship opener before the Solomon Kurukuru – also supported by a strong contingent of fans – put on a dominant display defeating New Caledonia 8-3.

For tonight’s first clash (6:00pm local time), Vanuatu will be drawing on memories of last year’s OFC Futsal Championship when they breezed past New Caledonia 11-1. But Eric Michalak’s side has come a long way since then, working closely with OFC Futsal expert Scott Gilligan who believes the pace of the New Caledonians will be a threat.

In the following match (8:00pm local time), a win for either Fiji or Solomon Islands will see them go three points clear at the top of the table with one match to play on Wednesday before the Final and 3rd/4th place play-off on Friday. In the same match up last year, Solomon Islands beat Fiji 11-6. Dickson Kadau’s side is likely to find extra motivation on a day that marks the Solomon Islands independence from British rule on 7 July 1978.

One pundit who is confident the defending champions will go all the way is Victor Wai’ia, coach of the 2008 Kurukuru side that won the OFC Futsal Championship and went on to represent Oceania at the FIFA Futsal World Cup in Brazil.

“I think Solomon Islands are in an even better position to win than last year because they have been working hard on their defensive strategy,” said Wai’ia who now works as the Futsal/Beach Soccer Development Officer for the Solomon Islands Football Federation.

Wai’ia has been in Fiji for the past week taking part in the FIFA Sub-Regional Futsal Referee Instructor Course which concludes today.

For match reports from Match Day 2 stay tuned to Oceaniafootball.com

OFC Futsal Championship Fiji 2009 – Match Day 2 PreviewMatch: New Caledonia vs. Vanuatu
Date:Tuesday 7 July
Venue: Vodafone Arena, Suva
Time: 18h00 (Local time)

Match: Fiji vs. Solomon Islands
Date:Tuesday 7 July
Venue: Vodafone Arena, Suva
Time: 20h00 (Local time)

Futsal (football played indoors with a small, heavy ball) is high-speed football, with spectacular match situations and remarkable creativity. Futsal is a game for quick thinking and technical ingenuity. Apart from its appeal as a discipline in its own right, Futsal has a great value as a grassroots activity for developing players skill and ability.

The Football West Futsal Program is an intensive eight week program which focuses on the technical aspects of the game. The major emphasis of the program is on developing the player’s technique, touch and skills by focusing on ball juggling and individual ball work as well as challenging players with many forms of small sided games.

All players between the age of 6 and 12 years of age are encouraged to attend the Futsal program to improve their skills!

The next Futsal program will be run every Thursday from 4.15pm- 5.45pm, 30th July – 17th September, at the Loftus Recreation Centre on Loftus St in Leederville.

For more information contact Warren Grieve on warren.grieve@footballwest.com.au or 08 9422 6918 or fill in the registration form below and return to Football West.

Registration Form (DOC)

July appointments have been made for the Football NSW Futsal Winter State League. Persisting with a winning formula, the Technical Subcommittee has continued to appoint experienced referees with emerging officials.

With the finals series just around the corner, it is a last chance for the refereeing group to stake their claim for a place on the deciding fixtures.

July 6th will feature four select group referees with Jonathon Moore, Sam McIntosh, Roger Lee and Owen Ferguson all listed. They will be assisted by Alessandra Moussa from the development panel and Khaled Aly.

A week later, Gavin Lee and Darius Turner will lead a group which includes development panel referees Cameron Bruce and Daniel Luttringer. Gordon McOrist and Brendan Wirz complete the group.

The final round of the regular season has Roger Lee in action again, this time with select panel colleague Andrew Best. Development panel members Grant South and Kelly Jones will take up the challenge with Kevin Taylor and Paul Jones joining the rotation.

The Management Committee and TSC extend their appreciation to all of the officials who have performed well over the course of the season.

In partnership with Warrnambool City Council, Football Federation Victoria proudly kicked off the second component of its annual Futsal Championships yesterday, with more than 40 teams travelling to Warrnambool to take part in Victoria’s pinnacle Futsal event.

Held at the magnificent Warrnambool Stadium, over 5 courts, the two day round-robin club competition will continue today with finals at the end of the day for the different age groups.

With teams from all over Victoria competing, FFV is delighted to include football clubs such as South Melbourne JFC, Monash City JSC, Sandringham WSC and local football club Warrnambool Rangers in this year’s tournament.

These clubs join Victoria’s premier futsal clubs such as Cobras Futsal Club, Australian Futsal Group, Melbourne Reds, Victorian Lions, St Albans Strikers, Woodend JSC, Pumas Futsal Club, Keilor Park Hawks and first time entrants Camperdown Futsal.

Final highlights today include:

13 Boys Grand Final – 1.20pm
14 Boys Grand Final – 2.00pm
11 Boys Grand Final – 3.20pm
12 Boys Grand Final – 4.00pm
15/16 Boys Grand Final – 4.00pm

Plans are in the pipeline to improve and develop the growth of Futsal soccer in Fiji, says Dr. Mohammed Shamsudean Sahu Khan.

The Fiji FA boss said the proposal has been prepared to construct a special Futsal ground together with two academies to be built in Ba and Suva respectively.

He said a separate body would be set up to look into the affairs of Futsal but under the umbrella of Fiji FA.

“We are definitely going big on developing the growth of Futsal in Fiji and I will present my proposal to the committee this Sunday,” said Khan.

“There are plans to construct a new Futsal playing venue and two Futsal Academies to be set in Ba and also in Vatuwaqa.

“The Oceania has shown their support on the above plans and once the proposal is agreed in this Saturday’s meeting then we’ll start the project straight away.

“We will also appoint separate coach and officials to look in the day to day running of the Futsal but they will all affiliate under Fiji FA.”

Khan said soccer districts would also be encouraged to field separate teams for the Futsal and we would be holding Futsal tournaments during the year.

He said the setting up of a Futsal body would be a good chance for Fiji to play in the world cup especially after the outcome of the national team during last year’s tournament.

“Solomons has separate players that play for the Futsal competition and separate players for the 11- man soccer.”

“And we are also planning to do the same for Fiji as this can easily allow our team to play at the world cup.”

Khan has also thanked OFC for choosing Fiji for this year’s competition.

“This is the second consecutive years we are hosting the tournament and we are thankful to OFC for this. “Fiji will benefit a lot from this tournament and we are requesting the fans to come up in huge numbers and watch the games,” he added.

Host nation Fiji and defending defending champions Solomon Islands are both off to winning starts in contrasting fashion at the OFC Futsal Championships.

Fiji were made to battle hard through-out their match against Vanuatu in the night’s first match and tournament opener.

The hosts eventually came away 2-1 winners thanks to second half goals from Sandeep Nair and Shivam Nathan.

Vanuatu were frustrated by a series of excellent saves from Fijian keeper Simione Moce Tamanisau who’s best moments came with a pair of outstanding full-stretch reflex saves that showcased his valu.

Ironically Tamanisau made only one mistake to blot his copybook in the match, hesitating with a clearance which immediately led to his conceding an embarrassing 39th minute consolation goal to New Caledonia’s Vira Jack Ala.

2008 OFC Futsal Championship golden boot winner and Fiji captain Kamal Hassan was pleased to get his team off to a wining start.

“Our first half wasn’t that good but the second half was much better. Over-all I think it was a pretty good performance for our first game, we worked hard and used our possession better after halftime,” Kamal told OFC.

The night’s second match saw Oceaina’s reigning Futsal Champs the Solomon Islands reverse a 2-3 halftime deficit against with a devastating second half haul of five unanswered goals.

The Kurukurus went up a gear in the second to clinch an 8-3 win with captain Elliot Ragomo and Micah Lea’alafa scoring a brace each.

Solomon Islands coach Dickson Kadau was pleased with his team’s response to his halftime advice.

“The boys lost the tempo a little bit and allowed New Caledonia too much possession of the ball. At halftime I told them to take better care of the ball, to make them (New Caledonia) run more and the more we kept the ball the more our confidence came back and we kept them in their half. They did what I told them at halftime,” Kadau said.

Fiji v Vanuatu

Fiji: 1. Simione Mose TAMANISAU (GK); 2. Mira SAHIB; 3. Sandeep NAIR; 8. Aisea Dauivalu CODRO ; 9. Kamal HASSAN

SUBS : 4. Dinesh Chand MUDALIAR ; 5. Shivam NATHAN; 6. Mohammed SHALMEEN; 7. Joseph MISHRA; 10. Uraia Raimulo LOKI; 11. Christopher Junior KUMAR; 12. Emori RAGATA (GK)

Goals: Sandeep NAIR 30′; Shivam NATHAN 31′

Van: 1. Daniel MANSALE (GK); 6. Terry Quare; 8. Louis DOMINQUE; 10. Vira Jack ALA ; 11. Ben Edward

SUBS : 2. Morsen SOPE ; 3. Don MANSALE ; 4. Marco HERROMINLY ; 5. Lui SIFAS; 7. Ben Hungai; 9. Junior MALAS;

Goals: Vira Jack ALA 39′

OFC Futsal Championship Fiji 2009 -Match Day 1
Monday 10 July
Vodafone Arena, Suva

Results

Vanuatu: 1
Fiji: 2

New Caledonia: 3
Solomon Islands: 8

Click here to see the standings

NARA Tigers, Bulldogs, Eagles, Thundercats, RSAC Eels, Magpies. Not the names you would associate with experienced Futsal teams.

However, sportsmanship, passion, competitiveness, love and respect for the game were demonstrated by these teams at the Dural Sport & Leisure Centre yesterday as they did battle on the Futsal court.

You see, all these players have some sort of disability, but they were given the opportunity to have a great afternoon of sport and they relished the chance to experience Futsal, many for the first time.

The whole event came about as the Northern Area Recreation Association and Recreation Sports & Aquatics Club, with help from the NSW Department of Sport and Rec, got together to look for opportunities for their clients to experience different activities.

They contacted FNSW Futsal looking for assistance and a partnership was formed that resulted in coaching courses, skills development days and competition days being conducted.

The format of the tournament saw all teams play each other once with the 2 top teams at the end of the Round Robin meeting in the final where the NARA Bulldogs were victors over the Thundercats.

At the end of the day all the participants received a commemorative medallion while the NARA Bulldogs were presented with the perpetual trophy for winning the competition.

Many thanks must go Kelly Oldfield, Kelly Fishburn, Greg Brown and Brian Mendham for all their hard work prior to and during the tournament; also to Paul Jones, Laura Elliot and William Thorby who refereed throughout the day, their attitude and approach ensured that free flowing, enjoyable games eventuated.

A similar day will be conducted on September six at the Bankstown Basketball Stadium, Condell Park with the winners and runners up of both tournament invited to participate at the State championships to be held later this year.

Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) in conjunction with Fijian Television Broadcaster Mai TV is pleased to advise football fans of broadcast details for the OFC Futsal Championship Fiji 2009 which kicks off at the Vodafone Arena in Suva this evening.

OFC and Mai TV are working together to provide exclusive television coverage of all the matches at this year’s championship and a highlights package that will be distributed to broadcasters in each of the participating nations.

Mai TV will screen delayed coverage of Match Day One (Mon 6 July), Match Day Two (Tues 7 July), Match Day Three (Wed 8 July) and the Finals day (Fri 10 July) during Fijian prime time from 7:00pm to 8:30pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.

A highlights package ‘wrapping up’ the championship’s most exciting moments will be distributed post-tournament to all the participating OFC Member Associations for on-forwarding to local broadcasters. Mai TV will also make this highlights package available online at www.tv.com.fj

The OFC Futsal Championship gets underway this evening with hosts Fiji playing Vanuatu (6:00pm Fiji Time) while New Caledonia take on defending champions Solomon Islands (8:00pm Fiji Time). In the same match-ups at last year’s championship, Vanuatu beat Fiji 5-2 while Solomon Islands beat New Caledonia 8-5.

Since the championship’s inception, Australia have won the title on four occasions in 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2004 but after the Soceroos left OFC in 2006, Solomon Islands stepped up to claim the OFC Futsal crown in 2008.

The event has previously been held every four years as part of the qualification process for the FIFA Futsal World Cup tournaments. Fiji 2009 marks the first year of the new annual format which shows OFC’s commitment to developing futsal by providing regular competition for Oceania’s top teams.

Stay tuned to www.oceaniafootball.com for regular championship updates including the latest scores, news and photos.

OFC Futsal Championship Fiji 2009 – Television Schedule:

Tues 7 July 7:00pm – 8:30pm Fiji vs. Vanuatu, Solomon Islands vs. New Caledonia
Delayed Coverage on Mai TV Channel 8

Wed 8 July 7:00pm – 8:30pm Fiji vs. Solomon Islands, Vanuatu vs. New Caledonia
Delayed Coverage on Mai TV Channel 8

Thurs 9 July 7:00pm – 8:30pm Fiji vs. New Caledonia, Vanuatu vs. Solomon Islands
Delayed Coverage on Mai TV Channel 8

Sat 11 July 7:00pm – 8:30pm 3rd/4th Place Playoff, Final
Delayed Coverage on Mai TV Channel 8

Western Raiders are pleased to announce Stanhope Gardens as their new home for season 2009/10 Futsal Premier League. All home games along with the Trials will be held at Stanhope Gardens Leisure Centre; Stanhope Parkway (off Sunnyholt Rd).

The dates and times for the trials are as follows:

Saturday 25th July :
12 Girls- 1:00pm – 2:00pm
14 Girls- 2:00pm – 3:00pm
16 Girls- 3:00pm – 4:00pm
All Age Women – 4:00pm – 5:00pm

Sunday 26th July:
16 Boys- 11:30am – 12:30pm
14 Boys- 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Western Raiders Academy {Includes 9years -11years} – 2:00pm – 3:30pm
12 Boys- 3:30pm – 5.00pm

Youth and All Age Men trials are yet to be announced:

Please note that due to time frames, all Players are required to be at the Centre 45 minutes prior to the commencement of their trial to complete the application form.

For Further information please contact Mark Cotter on 0414 690-991 or Tarek Madani on 0400 775-861