Gibraltar’s National Futsal Head Coach, Jose Carlos Gil Prieto, has selected a 14-man squad for the upcoming UEFA EURO Futsal Qualifiers in Bosnia & Herzegovina
After the recent friendly double-header in
Northern Ireland, which both teams shared a victory a-piece in, Gibraltar now
turn their attentions to the qualifiers, where they face Switzerland, Cyprus
and Bosnia & Herzegovina, who are hosting the mini tournament in Zenica.
They will be hoping to improve on recent
qualifying performances, but face a tough group – the upside for them though is
finishing third in their group could see them make the qualifying round
playoffs, with 5 of the best 9 3rd-place teams entering the playoffs
which will be held approximately in April as a two-legged home and away tie
Gibraltar Men’s Futsal Squad (image courtesy of GFA):
Bavaria edged out Laguna 2007 on goal difference to secure a spot in the Top 6 – joining Lynx, Spartans, South United, Europa and College 1975.
Lynx FC – 1st
Lynx have picked up from where they left off last season and look on course to secure another title. Despite suffering a few minor hiccups on the way, the league champions have gone from strength to strength and could look to leave their best performances for the play-offs.
Spartans FC – 2nd
The Futsal new-boys have been a team that caught many off-guard. No one would have expected them to be in the position they currently stand and with a team full of talented players, their only downfall could be the lack of HGP’s, as only three were registered in their 10-1 win over Inter Principa last weekend.
South United FC – 3rd
South will be looking to go one better after luck wasn’t on their side in last season’s play-offs. Alan Parker brings a fluidity to this team which has been beneficial in striking up a great partnership with Alberto Caravaca and Lee Muscat. One issue that needs to be addressed quickly is the lack of numbers on matchdays, especially if this team wants to be competing at the top.
Europa FC – 4th
Europa might not be having as much enjoyment in Futsal as they are in Football but have brought a great competitive edge to the league. Led by captain Ashley Rodriguez, who has 20 goals to his name already, and the experienced Mark Moxham in goal – they’ve proven to be a difficult team to play this season.
College 1975 – 5th
College 1975 sit in different halves of the table in Futsal and Football but their all local approach has worked well. Most notably their 2-2 draw with Lynx is the only team that has taken points away from the league champions this season. Competing at the top may be a step too far but they could definitely be a possible banana skin for certain sides – keeping hold of Nicholas Castle after his heroics in Gibraltar’s recent win over Northern Ireland will be a huge boost also.
Bavaria FC – 6th
A 3-3 draw against Zoca Bastion on the final day of Round 1 edged out Laguna 2007 on goal difference. Bavaria will need to hit some form heading in the split as stats don’t look too kindly on them, with their only win vs the top 6 coming against College and losses against the top 4 sides. One position which needs highlighting is their goalkeeper which has let them down during most games.
FG caught up with Jamie Bosio on a number of topics, including the Gibraltar women’s futsal team’s recent trip to Northern Ireland, his futsal club side Bavaria and how it feels to also be back in 11-a-side action after over a year injured, for Lincoln’s Intermediate side.
Bosio spent more than a year out injured but made his return with Lincoln’s Intermediate side in the latter stages of 2019 – how does it feel to be playing again? “It feels good and it has been a long road with many physical and mental challenges but I feel much stronger as a result of it.”
The midfielder, who has been capped multiple times by the national team, would understandably be a player of interest for a number of sides in January, but for now he is happy where he is: “At the moment I have no immediate playing plans but to continue with this young and talented Lincoln U23 side. Also, I’d like to focus on my future in Futsal, not just coaching but also playing in the next few years.”
Bavaria, who Bosio is involved with at a domestic futsal level, sit 7th in the league at the moment, just outside the top six spots – how does the 28-year-old view his sides season thus far? “At the moment I feel that at Bavaria we’ve had a solid start to the league season. We have one game left in the first round and our objective this season was to try to finish in the Top 6 after the league split.
This is still achievable with one game left. We’ve had a tough run of games but the performances have shown us that there is a lot of potential in our all local squad.”
A recent career development for Bosio, who outside of sport is also a teacher, is to move into coaching – most recently the Women’s Futsal National Team who are currently coached by Gayle Langtry – how has the transition from playing to coaching gone? “Being a teacher, the transition to coaching has been relatively easy as many of the traits I also find in my work life. It’s just the additional pressure of developing your knowledge in the sport, which I have been doing for the last 4 and a half years.”
The Women’s Futsal National Team continued their development over the weekend when they traveled to Northern Ireland for a double-header against their hosts – how does Bosio feel the team did? “The Gibraltar girls put on two gutsy performances against a much older and experienced opponent. Our team is relatively new to the sport of Futsal so to play the way we did, particularly in the second game, shows a lot of promise for the future.
We have some young and exciting players like Shani Robba, Reighann Olivero and Tiffany Viagas who at such a young age will only benefit from these kinds of experiences. The future is bright in Futsal!”
Gibraltar Men & Women squads ended their respective international friendlies against Northern Ireland this weekend with plenty of lessons and a victory.
It was the Gibraltar Women’s team that got the weekend underway with a defeat to Northern Ireland. After trailing 4-0 at half-time, Gibraltar came out much more positive in the second half and the result at full-time saw the hosts win 5-1, with the visitors only goal coming from Joelle Gilbert.
A few hours later the Men’s side were in action; Gibraltar found themselves trailing 2-1 with Naoufal El Andaloussi scoring, but the visitors were by the far the more clinical side and ran out 8-1 winners.
The Gibraltar Women’s team found themselves playing their double-header the following day and were defeated 4-0. Kyrelle Revagliatte was a player who received many plaudits for her goalkeeping display and the friendlies, in general, are ones that the team can take positives from and look to take forward.
On the final day of the international friendlies weekend, Gibraltar Men walked away with a superb victory. An own goal, one from Jaydan Parody and a Nicholas Castle brace secured the win in an end-to-end game.
The training for the Men’s team continues after this weekend, with the squad set to travel to Bosnia on the 26th to take on the host nation, Cyprus and Switzerland.
Gibraltar Futsal head coach Jose Carlos Gil Prieto has announced a 15-man squad for their International friendly against Northern Ireland this weekend, while Women’s Head Coach Gayle Langtry has also named her squad for he Women’s Teams double-header against the same nation.
The squads travel to Belfast in the next few days and will play a double-header against the hosts, returning Sunday evening.
The long-awaited Futsal Premier & Championship Division 19/20 seasons get underway this weekend with a total of 23 clubs taking part.
The new rule introduced by the Gibraltar FA earlier this week will see 1 HGP on the pitch at all times for the duration of the whole match with the rule expected to rise to 2 for the 2020/21 season.
Each League (Premier and Championship) will ‘split’ after the 1st round of matches to allow a more balanced competition. The number of clubs in each half of the split will be determined by the final number of teams that registered in the respective Leagues by the 31st of August.
Premier Division teams:
Bavaria FC
College 1975
Europa FC
Inter Principia FC
Koala FC
Laguna 2007 FC
Lynx FC
Mons Calpe FC
South United FC
Spartans FC
Zoca Bastion
Games to be played on Saturday 19th October & Sunday 20th October at the Tercentenary Sports Hall.
Championship Divison teams:
Boca Juniors Gib FC
Expendables FC
FC Britannia
FC Hound Dogs
Hercules Football Club
Lek Bangkok FC
Lions Gib FC
Maccabi FC
Rock Solid FC
Sporting FC
St Joseph’s Football Club
Stallions FC
Games to be played Saturday 19th October & Sunday 20th October at the Old Sports Hall.
Lions Black went undefeated in Group 2 to progress into the final with Joelle Gilbert scoring in both games while Lions Orange saw themselves come from behind to beat Lincoln FC courtesy of goals from Josie Cummings and Reighann Olivero and won their first game in Group 1, goals from Alba Martin, Keshia Doody, Reighann Olivero and a Kayleigh Ferro brace.
Lions president Alex Grech spoke about how good it was to have the final between both Lions teams, saying it is a: “great achievement, and it shows how serious the club takes the ladies football. Furthermore, with our qualified coaches Jansen Olivero and Chris Ward continuously working and putting the hours for their development.”
We caught up with Tyson Ruiz as he reflects on the UEFA Futsal Champions League tournament with Lynx and his view going into the domestic season with his new club Mons Calpe.
Tyson Ruiz had mixed feelings about Lynx’s preparation going into the Futsal Champions League and said, “We’ve had better preparations in previous years, mainly due to the change of manager and players not able to attend all training sessions.”
Lynx lost all their group games against Hovocubo, Helvecia Futsal London and PYF Saltires – Tyson reflected on the tournament, “Overall, I think we had a good tournament. I felt that we could have done a bit more against the Scots, but the other two games were going to be near impossible.”
With the new Futsal season reportedly kicking off in October, we asked Tyson what he is hoping to achieve this season – “This season, I’m gonna take a break from futsal, at least till January. Last year it was difficult training with both futsal and football then playing twice a week.”
Tyson returned to Mons Calpe in the summer after leaving in 2017 and asked him if he is looking forward to the new domestic season, “Like I said before, it was difficult playing the two sports. This year, I’m concentrating on Mons Calpe and looking forward to trying to help achieve the clubs goals which is to try qualify for Europe.”
Lynx beat Mons Calpe 10-3 on aggregate while Gibraltar Phoenix Viajes Lineasol overcame South United on penalties to qualify for the Futsal 1st Division playoff final.
After the first leg finished 2-2, you would expect the second leg to be as tight but on the contrary, Lynx made light work of their opponents. Tyson Ruiz scored a hat-trick, captain Ezequiel Martin Martin bagged a brace and there were further goals for Ruben Fernandez Ruiz, Ethan Perez & Joel Emiliano Fraile as the holders shipped eight past Mons.
South United put in a valiant effort in the first leg, leading twice and equalising to make it 3-3 but Phoenix’s quality shone near the end which saw them take a 5-3 lead into the second leg.
Braces for Jayce Consigliero & Alberto Caravaca and one from Estiven Morente Veles saw South United win the second leg 5-3 and take the game to penalties which Phoenix would go on and win – it is games such as this which makes Futsal so exciting.
Lynx will now play Phoenix Viajes Lineasol in a best of three final which is expected to take place this weekend (no official confirmation by the Gibraltar FA at the time of writing).
Northern Ireland produced a second half comeback to stun Gibraltar and come from two goals down to win 3-2 in an action packed match at the Tercentenary Sports Hall.
After losing their opening game on Saturday 3-0, Gibraltar came into the game hoping to get revenge. The early stages were a very even contest with both keepers called into action.
As the game went on, Tiffany Viagas started to see more of the ball and was pulling the strings in all of Gibraltar’s attacks. Halfway through the first half and Gibraltar broke the deadlock through Kayleigh Ferro.
Gibraltar goalkeeper Caitlin Robba made a good save shortly after, to keep out a shot from Olivia Brown. 17 minutes played and Gibraltar doubled their lead, Shania Robba drawed the keeper off her line and squared the ball for Joelle Gilbert to smash in from close range.
The hosts were awarded two penalties in the final minute of the first half, Kayleigh Ferro hit the first one over the bar while Joelle Gilbert’s hit the post and the Northern Ireland keeper Alice Harkness showed great reflexes to keep out Tiffany Viagas’ rebound.
After a relatively even start to the second half, Shania Robba nearly made it 3-0 for Gibraltar but Harkness made an excellent save to keep out. Four minutes later, Caitlin Robba made another great save to keep out a close range shot from Mairead McCann.
A minute later, Northern Ireland pulled a goal back as Hannah Henderson bundled the ball over from a corner. Playing again in less than 24 hours really took it’s toll on Gibraltar as two late goals from Olivia Brown secured the visitors a 3-2 win.
Conclusion: This weekend would have definitely been what the Gibraltar women’s team would have hoped for going into the games. Two losses but two excellent performances – from the experience of Keisha Doody, the technical ability of Tiffany Viagas and the goalscoring prowess of Kayleigh Ferro, the foundation has been laid down for what looks to be an exciting new chapter in Women’s football.
