Pic: (mtnfootball.com)

BY Obakeng Maje

The South African Futsal (indoor soccer) National Team has been knocked out of the FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifiers.

South Africa went down by four goals to six (4-6) in the second leg of the final round of qualifiers played on Saturday, 23 June 2012 at the Orlando Community Hall Indoor Arena (opposite Orlando Stadium) in Soweto.

Libya has now qualified for the World Cup on a 10-4 aggregate victory after winning the first leg four nil (4-0) in Tunisia leg two weeks ago.

They are one of the three African countries that will represent the continent at the 7th edition of the 2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup set to take place in Thailand from 1 – 18 November.

The home side went into this match in need of goals, but were shocked by two quick goals from Libya early on, in an entertaining and fast-paced first half. The goals came from Abdusalam Sabie.

South Africa’s reply came before the break – with the goals scored by Rafique Hassim and Emmanuel Khetsi. The score line would have been different had South Africa’s Charlton Stevens scored the penalty and Khotso Chabeli not denied by the upright.

The second stanza started at the same frenetic pace from both sides, and it was the hosts who found the back of the net first through Hassim – his second of the day. He also got the third – South Africa’s fourth – before the visitors clawed their way back into the match.

Four more goals were enough to ensure victory, with the fourth coming from the goalkeeper in the final minutes of the match.

The final score: South Africa 4 Libya 6.

“It’s not really nice to have to lose like that, but I must give credit to the boys because they played their hearts out. They put on a brilliant display that made all of us proud to be South Africans. We are clearly not in the same league as Libya who have been playing this game for a long time, but we were able to put up a good fight. I can safely say, despite the loss, the future of FUTSAL in South Africa looks very bright,” said head coach Quinton Allies.

“The the first half goals from Libya really took the wind out of our sails, but the boys fought back. It was not our day, and someday we will also be celebrating.”

Poobalan Govindsamy, head of the Futsal Committee, is also proud of the performance.

“The boys put on a brilliant display but it was not to be. We have seen that there is a lot of potential in this country and we need to nurture it. The first way to go would be to take this game to schools, and then form a league where we can have a large pool of players. We will be meeting in the next few weeks to discuss these issues and map the way forward. But we are happy with what we saw here. Good luck to Libya, and better luck to our boys next time,” said Govindsamy.

This is how they lined up:
South Africa:
Starting: Gift Mashaba (c); Charlton Stevens; Jabulani Mnisi; Teboho Mofolo (GK); Khotso Chabeli
Subs:
Trevino Pillay; Sibusiso Tshabalala; Hashim Khan; Dumisani Ntsodo; Lucas Mhoni; Rafique Hassim; Andile Sibiso; Simphiwe Mgedozi; Emmanuel Khetsi
Coach: Quinton Allies
Libya:
Starting: Mohamed Rageb Ali (c); Ahmed Suliman Abdelkhalid; Yosef Bensaed (GK); Abdusalam Sabie; Jusam Al Wahishi
Subs:
Ramzi Al-Sharif; Mohamed Nuri Alisawi; Mohamed Fathi Eshebli; Omar Yousef Elmehdawi; Reda Fathi Ali; Ahmed Faraj  Hussein; Ahmed Muftah Hadad; Younis Ali Shames; Ali Alamari Alhamali