FUTSOC FUTALAN futsal REACHES THE HOLLYWOOD 5V5 CUP FINAL

This last weekend, FUTSOC FUTALAN futsal entered the Hollywood 5v5 Soccer Tournament at the Boggs Field Soccer Complex, achieving great results along the way. Attending the event, with a roster of seven players (Bruno Saade, Karl Ackermann, Diego Ortiz, Julian Salowe, Mike Wehrhahn, Carlos Pan, and Matias De La Flor) placed in the high school division, the team started the festive day with a solid 5::1 victory over TCU 1994 FC. The goals were scored by: Wehrhahn (1), Pan (1), Ackermann (1), Salowe (1) and Ortiz (1). In the second match, our young group of players, took on a very strong and experienced Selecao FC squad, which dominated us in the first half, with their play speed and tactical superiority, to lead 3::0 at the half. In the 2nd half, after key tactical adjustments, we managed to play them close and with tighter marking, surrendering the latter portion by only 1::2, and a final score of 5::1. Our single goal attributed to our keeper, Bruno Saade. The last group stage match put our boys up against FC Banterlona, where our boys ran the table, erupting for ten goals in the first half alone, only to finish the match with a 14::3 result. The lopsided game, gave us encouragement and ultimately qualified us for the final match. Scoring was led by Julian Salowe who scored three goals, Matias De la Flor who netted three scores as well, and four players (Karl Ackermann, Carlos Pan, Mike Wehrhahn and Diego Ortiz) who each put it two goals, to complete the scoring.

The Championship match paired our team with a previous opponent in the group stage – Selecao FC. Learning from the earlier defeat and adjusting accordingly, Coach Mandy and Assistant Coach Francisco made some key modifications to the line-up and the tactical approach to the match, which gave our squad a much improved pairing with our opponent. The scoring opened with a goal on a breakaway by Mike Wehrhahn, surprising the tough opponent. Solid positional play, interactive movement and strong transitional attacking, we controlled most of the tempo in the first half and even added a second goal off a shot from Karl Akermann. With a good lead, a deflection off a poor pass resulted in a quick strike from the opponent’s striker…and the half ended 2::1 in our favor. The second half had us continuing to control tempo and the ball, however another mistake on an errant pass led to their equalizing score. Taking control once again, we surged ahead with a strike from Mike Wehrhahn – his second goal of the match, only to see us tied once more off another passing error, to pair up at 3::3. The result held until the end of the match, which forced a penalty kick tiebreaker.

The Championship match tiebreaker was a thriller, with both keepers blocking kick after kick. Our own keeper for the match – Carlos Pan, made two brilliant stops and was the only score for our team. Unfortunately, we fell short, however we showed how much improvement we made from the earlier days’ match, losing 1::2 in the penalty portion of the game. Congratulations to our fine team!!