De Melo and Feilich in fine form for Futsalroos

TWO futsal players who played together at the 2022 Maccabiah Games contributed to one of the Futsalroos’ best ever results at an ASEAN Futsal Championship last week in Thailand. Ethan De Melo – who has been a regular in the squad for the last five years – played in all of Australia’s five games, starting in four of them, while goalkeeper Noah Feilich, in just his second tournament for the Futsalroos since his debut in March this year, played in the last three game The Aussies began with a gritty 3-3 draw with Myanmar on November 4, which included a goal scored by De Melo a minute before half-time, via a powerful diagonal left-footed strike. Backing up the next day, the Futsalroos trailed Indonesia 1-2 at half-time and conceded a late second-half goal to fall 1-3. But in a must-win game three on November 6 – in which both De Melo and Feilich were named in the starting five – Australia did the hard yards in the first half to earn a 3-2 lead, before going on with the job to win 9-2, earning a spot in the semi-finals on November 8 against Vietnam. A big crowd was treated to an epic semi in which scores were locked at 3-3 at the end of regular time and after the first five-minute period of extra-time. After Vietnam scored next, Feilich was subbed on and threw a long pass to a teammate that began an attacking raid that produced an equaliser.

But Vietnam were awarded a penalty for a dangerous tackle with only 46 seconds left and made no mistake from the spot, to clinch a 5-4 victory. The Futsalroos ended a memorable ASEAN Championship on November 10 by playing the host nation in front of a vocal, capacity crowd in the match determining third and fourth places. De Melo and Feilich were called into action at the start of the second half, when the Aussies were trailing 0-3. Feilich made two impressive saves, but the Aussies conceded one more goal, in the last five minutes, when using a risky power play formation to boost their attack, which temporarily left their goal unguarded. Feilich told The AJN on Monday there are many positives for the Australian team from their performances in the tournament.

In the space of one year, the team has continued to get better each tournament and now we are getting back to where we belong – competing with the best in Asia,” Feilich said. To play the top teams in Asia such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand, was a great test for us and I feel that we matched it with them until the very end.” On a personal note, Feilich said, “To be back in the Australian shirt was incredible and something that is special every time you get the opportunity. “You never know when the next time will come, so to spend it with such a great group makes it even more enjoyable.” Feilich and De Melo will resume playing for their NSW Futsal Premier League clubs – Hakoah and Mascot – this weekend. Fellow Jewish and Mascot player, Jonathan Barzel, was also in the Futsalroos’ squad for the ASEAN Championships, but injury forced him to miss the tournament.

Source AJN