Derby delight in winter league
The game started at a frenetic pace, with powerful shots at goal, quick passing, and fast breaks.
A Maccabi versus Hakoah derby in futsal? It’s only a recent trend, but it is already becoming a memorable fixture in the Futsal NSW Winter League – the main traditional futsal off-season competition that leads up to the NSW Futsal Premier League from mid-spring to early summer.
Eastern Suburbs Hakoah Futsal club splits its men’s teams in the winter comp into a Maccabi team comprised of players who are eligible to form a futsal squad for the Maccabiah Games, and the usual Hakoah team comprised of all other men’s players at the club.
The Maccabi squad features arguably the best young player in Australia, Ethan De Melo, fellow Futsalroo Robbie Ezekiel, as well as Coby New – one of the Jewish up-and-coming stars – and Noah Felich, one of the best goalkeepers in the competition. The Maccabi team also includes a group of Maccabiah veterans, and some developing stars.
After seven 2023 winter league games, Maccabi were undefeated, and on top of the men’s ladder.
For the derby match against Hakoah last weekend, Maccabi were without Futsalroo Jono Barzel, and experienced players Dylan Basger and Josh Shubitz, but were strengthened by the surprise return of Gilad Swartz.
Their opponents, Hakoah, were coming second, and their strong squad included two Futsalroos.
Two days after the match, the bulk of the Hakoah side – plus Felich – caught a flight on Monday night bound for Brazil, to participate in the U21 Futsal World Club Championship. The match had all the hallmarks of a classic, mate-versus-mate atmosphere, as all the players train together each week, and normally play in the one Hakoah men’s team in the NSW Futsal Premier League.
The game started at a frenetic pace, with powerful shots at goal, quick passing, and fast breaks.
Maccabi scored after five minutes of play, when Hakoah made the mistake of letting De Melo dribble forward into their half, and he then used brilliant footwork to beat two defenders, before striking a deft low shot to the left side of the goal.
Hakoah’s keeper tried but could do nothing to prevent that goal.
The tide began to turn about eight minutes before half-time, when Hakoah equalised on the back of building pressure through maintaining possession in Maccabi’s half.
Hakoah struck again three minutes before the break, but Maccabi added steel to their defence in an arm wrestle of a second half, in which no further goals were scored by either team.
When the final whistle had been blown, Hakoah had held on for a 2-1 win, inflicting Maccabi’s first loss of the winter season.
With Hakoah away for a fortnight in Brazil, the Maccabi men will regroup, and return to winter league action this Sunday.
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