The side finished top of the national futsal league in its final weekend in Auckland, but was beaten 3-2 in its semifinal against Canterbury yesterday. While the silverware eluded it, the top of the table finish qualified Southern for the newly announced Oceania Futsal Champions League, alongside Canterbury, which won the final 5-1.
It was a reward for the team which won 11 of 14 league games and finished eight points in front of second-placed Auckland, which also lost its semifinal to WaiBOP. While the tournament was still being confirmed, it looked almost certain to go ahead at some stage next year.
"It was pretty gutting to lose," coach Darren Hart said.
"But then when we heard that afterwards it was like, we’ve lost guys, but all the hard work we’ve done to win the league has been rewarded. So it’s a bitter pill to swallow in terms of the grand final-type stuff, but it feels like that effort was actually worth it. To win the league and get that consistency, because we have got something out of it in the end."
Southern conceded in the fourth minute of the semifinal, giving Canterbury a lead it held for the majority of the match. A second goal with 15 minutes to go had Southern in trouble, but it was able to pick one back four minutes later, as Carlos Hermann finished after receiving the ball from a Daniel de Souza free kick. Benji Lapslie restored Canterbury’s two-goal lead, before Michael Sannum scored with two minutes to go, giving Southern the chance for one last flurry.
"It felt like we had probably 30 shots in that game and open goals and all those kind of things and it just wouldn’t quite get in the back of the net.
"I don’t think we necessarily did anything wrong. We just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net and maybe it just came down to that technique under pressure, rather than that we didn’t turn up."
Hart said the pressure of being the favourite may have told in the end and panic may have set in as the team was forced the to chase the game early. He was pleased by how the team hung in after going down 2-0 though, in contrast to previous years when it had folded. However, the loss and pressure-filled environment was something to learn from for next year. There was every chance plenty of players would return and the young team would mount another serious challenge.
