New Zealand crushes Kiribati 21-1, at the 2012 OFC Futsal Championship – Futsal News
The New Zealand Futsal squad annihilated Kiribati 21-1, on the second day of the 2011 Oceanic Football Confederation (OFC) Futsal Championship, held at the Vodafone Arena Suva, Fiji, on May 17.
The Futsal Whites had a disappointing start on the first day of the championship, when they ended their match against Fiji with a dramatic 4-4 draw.
Fiji is the runner-up of the last two editions of the OFC Futsal Cup.
Futsal Whites Coach, Matt Chandler said, “We were 4-1 up yesterday against a team who have come runners-up for the last two years and to let it slip was disappointing. I think we put a few things right today.”
Dylan Manickum, Nathan Robertson, Jakub Sinkora and Miro Major all scored goals in the start of the first-half. Micky Malivuk, Daniel Koprivcic, Lucas Silva and Marvin Eakins continued their assault on their opponents, as they kept scoring goals for their
squad. The New Zealand outfit was leading 12-0 until the half-time whistle.
Kiribati coach, Pine Iosefa was very much aware that the goal different was unassailable, as New Zealand continued to show no mercy and scored more goals in the second-half of the match.
There were further nine goals scored by the Futsal Whites in the next half. Robertson scored the maximum five goals of the match, followed by Manickum who netted four goals. The Kiribati fans got a single chance to cheer-up in the whole match, when Teemai
Riinga scored for the Kiribati side in the last minutes of the match.
Tariq Assad scored his side’s last goal, as the Futsal Whites did threaten to break the record of the Oceanic history of scoring the maximum goals in a single match.
The record for the most goal difference is of 23-1 held by Australia, while contesting against Samoa in 1996.
Kiribati coach, after the performance of his team said, “We learned a lot and it was good for them to experience the passing and movement of New Zealand. It is the first time our players have come up against opponents like that. We just want to improve as
much as we can and learn from some of the teams that we are playing.”
New Zealand will play their last group match against Vanuatu on May 18 and if they win the match, they will proceed to the semi-finals of the tournament.
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