Premier Futsal league even after all the controversies and road blocks has finally kicked off even if it is not in its original avatar of 8 teams 8 cities as promised but having witnessed the first day of action you cannot be more thankful to the organizers for actually pulling it off. As a football fan you cannot think of anything better maybe apart from that odd match of Bayern Munich playing in India.
If you think IPL is a party, try watching Premier futsal.
5 players unlimited substitution 40 minutes 4 quarters each as exciting as the other each with a twist, each full of tricks and delicate chips of power, of precision of goals and plenty of them. Whatever you could think of missing from the traditional football game Futsal covers it for you. You want nutmeg it gives you nutmeg, you want fast paced soccer it gives you, you want substitution it gives you that, you want skills there is plenty of it on display, you want legends well futsal gives you that as well.
MATCH 1: Mumbai v/s Chennai
So on a hot humid Friday Night in Chennai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium it all started with Manchester United legend Ryan Giggs facing it off against the “Pele of Futsal” Falcao. The match lived up to its billing. Giggs showed his master class and stole the show and guided his team Mumbai 5’s to a comfortable 4-2 win over Chennai 5’s even when he did not score. The way Giggs was playing Manchester United fans could only ask for him to come out of retirement.
Mumbai 5’s took the lead in the first quarter by a well taken Foglia’s penalty courtesy of a Cirilo’s hand ball. Chennai did make efforts but were wasteful if front of goals. Mumbai added another in the second quarter this time it was Angellot’s turn to be on the score sheet, he showed tremendous control and skills to beat the keeper and fire home in an empty net. Mumbai went into defensive mode which gave Chennai a lot of the ball but they couldn’t make much of it Falcao tried hard but was mostly kept silent, Cirilo’s nightmare continued as his shot was deflected of the post and went outside. On the other side Mumbai added a third and Foglia his second, Giggs being the provider. 3-0 Three quarters were not enough Mumbai added another to make it 4 one in each quarter. Ramirez with a neat finish in the top corner from his side foot.
Cirilo’s was finally lucky as a miscommunication between Mumbai’s defense gave him an opportunity and he capitalized on it to give Chennai its first goal. Falcao made it two and showed why he is one of the best in the game. But all this was too little too late and Mumbai was home safe by then.
Final Score: Mumbai 4 (Angellot, Foglia-2, Ramirez) bt Chennai 2 (Cirilo, Falcao)
MATCH 2: Kolkata v/s Goa
Ronaldinho was the the center of attraction in the second match of the day but he could not guide his team and were beaten by Crespo’s Kolkata 5’s 4-2. People had turned up for some Ronaldinho magic but it was Kolkata who turned up the magic they took the lead scoring 2 goals in the first quarter itself, Pula and Mohammed Islam sharing the spoils. The second quarter was quiet as it ended with Kolkata managing to hold its 2-0 lead. Seconds in the third quarter Rafael pulled one back for Goa, toe poking past the keeper. Minutes later Crespo the Marquee player of Kolkata extended the lead back to two by scoring a goal though he was largely luck courtesy of a big deflection. But Goa were not finished and a lack in concentration by Kolkata and Santos made it 3-2 to heat up the things going into the last 10 minutes of the game. But an unlucky Marshall own goal with five minutes to go made it 4-2 for Kolkata who saw off the match without any further damage.
Final Score: Kolkata 4 (Pula, Mohammed Islam, Hernan Crespo, Marshall-og) bt Goa 2 (Rafael, Santos)