A THIRTY-SIX hour trip from Port Macquarie to Rio was all worth it in the end for goalkeeper Harrison King last month.
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The Lake Cathie teenager will always remember his first international futsal tournament after his goal handed Australia their first-ever boys under-15 international title.
King scored the winner in the final minute of Australia’s 4-3 win over the host nation, but they didn’t have it all their own way.
Australia needed to win the match against Brazil to finish on top of their group and with the clock ticking down and the score at 3-all, King played his role in history.
“We had a time out and the coach said we had to score because we had to win,” King said.
“They were shooting every couple of seconds trying to win so I caught one [attempt], kicked it out of my hands and it went into the back of the net.”
It was the best way to silence the crowd who had created a good atmosphere and tried their best to put the goalkeeper off his game.
“At the back of my net they were all yelling ‘let one in, let one in’ and when I missed one that hit the crossbar they went off,” King said.
“It was good to play in front of a crowd because we don’t get to do that much here.”
The win was Australia’s first attempt at the title since 2013 when the boys team fell at the final hurdle.
King had to focus during the match, especially when the Aussies were down 3-2. Another goal would have almost guaranteed defeat.
“I was really nervous about the whole thing because I couldn’t let in another goal,” he said.
“I couldn’t do anything much because the ball was down the other end of the court most of the time.”
At the back of my net they were all yelling ‘let one in, let one in’ and when I missed one that hit the crossbar they went off.
- Harrison King
It is a fair effort when you consider the teenager only took up futsal at the start of the year.
“Probably winning was the best feeling,” he said.
“The crowd was really good, the players I played with were pretty good, I met some really good people and the coaching was exceptional over there.”
King enjoyed the step up in class and said it was a good challenge to see how good the Brazil teams were.
“I really enjoyed playing against them because they’re a lot harder competition,” he said.
“They’re very good with very good foot skills and it was the whole team. They didn’t have just one or two really good players.
“Their ability was amazing.”
The Australian team played 12 games in the tournament and won 10, drew one and lost one.
