Capital are among the favourites to claim the Futsal National League title but have not been in action for nearly a month and star player Lucas Da Silva says they will relish their return to the court this weekend.

Last year’s minor premiers, Capital made a perfect start in their bid to top the table again by winning their opening two matches but that was back in mid-October in the Southern Home Series of the Futsal National League.

Due to a quirk of the draw, they have had to wait until the Southern Travel Series – which takes place over the next two days at the ARA Institute in Christchurch – to get their impetus going again but Da Silva says they have used their time away from the competition wisely.

“It’s been hard not to be able to participate in the matches but we’ve been having lots of inter-squad games and just trying to prepare for this weekend,” the Futsal White says.

“Everybody is feeling pretty positive and looking forward to going to Christchurch. If we manage to get the wins we need then we could end up on top of the table which will be nice.”

After being among the early pace-setters with their back-to-back wins, Capital now find themselves fourth and with significant ground to make up on the leading pair of the Northern Comets and Auckland. Both those sides have played four more matches though and Capital can climb above them this weekend if their encounters with Canterbury United Dragons and Southern United go to plan.

Coach Callum Holmes will lead his side into battle against the South Island pair across four matches while Central counterpart Scott Mudgway will do likewise. Central do not appear to have the title-winning credentials of Capital though and are currently joined only by Bay of Plenty in being yet to pick up a point.

Da Silva has identified defending champions Southern and the North Island duo of Northern and Auckland as Capital’s main title rivals. Despite not being in action for so long, he and his team mates have a good idea of what to expect in Christchurch.

“We’ve got some footage of the teams that Callum has been showing us so we’ve studied them pretty well,” he says.

“But we already know most of the players from past seasons anyway, it’s just about making sure the new players in our team are also aware of what those players are like and what their strengths and weaknesses are. But I think we have enough information on them and they probably have enough information on us as well so it’s going to be hard.”

Da Silva and co are determined to finally bring the title to the capital this season after making a habit of stumbling at the final hurdle.

They looked odds on to claim the honours last year after finishing the regular season in first place, storming to the minor premiership with a seven-point lead over nearest rivals Auckland. But they then suffered a shock loss to Northern in the semi-finals and will be desperate to avoid a similar fate this time around.

“At the beginning of the season we set a couple of goals as a team and one of them is winning the league. It would definitely be very sad if we don’t but we understand there are lots of other good teams so whoever does the best job throughout the season and during the play-offs will definitely take the national league,” Da Silva says.

“We generally perform really well throughout the season and then when it comes to the semi-finals and final we have a bit of a block and don’t manage to win those games – even though we still play really well and a lot of times better than the opposition. I don’t know how we prepare to correct that but if we just keep doing the right things then eventually our turn will come.”

Aside from helping Capital to national league glory, Da Silva also has a personal goal in mind as he looks to be a key part of his country’s quest to qualify for the 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania.

The Futsal Whites are set to compete in the OFC Futsal Nations Cup in New Caledonia next year, the winner of which will earn the right to represent Oceania at the World Cup. New Zealand’s campaign will be led by player-coach Marvin Eakins and Da Silva is hoping to be at the forefront of his plans.

“We don’t know the calendar at this stage but I know Marvin will be trying to organise tournaments and friendly games and give us an opportunity to participate in training camps to prepare for the qualifiers. For me, I hope to play well in this national league so I can still be part of the national team.”

The Southern Travel Series of the Futsal National League takes place at the ARA Institute in Christchurch this weekend, for the draw and other information please click here

All matches from the Southern Travel Series will be live streamed, to view the streaming please click here

Article added: Saturday 10 November 2018