EASTCOAST Eagles’ impressive winning streak continued over the ditch last week when the girls team sailed through the 2018 Auckland International Futsal Cup undefeated.
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They banged in an impressive 49 goals and only conceded two across six games as they kept their undefeated record in tact for 2018.
That record now is headed towards 30 matches.
The Eagles were too good for an Auckland Cat 5 side in a comfortable 4-0 win in the final that handed them their first title at the event in their first attempt.
Coach Mick Day said the trip was a chance to test what they had been doing on the training court against some high-quality opposition.
“It was good to trial all that sort of stuff against unknown competitors and people we didn’t know,” he said.
“For us it was good because I learned a lot about what was working and what we need more work on.”
The successful trip across the Tasman means it will now become a regular part of their calendar.
“That’s the first time they’ve been over to Auckland, but we guarantee that it will be a tournament that’s on our schedule every year from now,” Day said.
“It may not always be the girls, but we’re always going to supply teams over there.”
After already claiming state and national titles this year, the Eagles can now add an international trophy to a growing list of achievements.
“The girls have done some pretty big tournaments and haven’t dropped a game,” Day said.
“National was our big one in January, but we’ve done a lot of state and national stuff, we’ve now done an international one and the girls are undefeated.”
Day said the closeness of the girls squad was one of the keys to their success which allowed him to challenge them at training.
“Other teams discovered the bond the girls have and they can see the dedication and how they work really hard at training,” he said.
“It makes my job at games really easy.
“I might be hard and tough at training but by the time we get to the game I can sit back, relax and study the game because the girls know what they’re doing.
“If I’m calm, they’re calm and they go forward from that.”
Things didn’t quite go to plan for the Eagles’ men’s squad who were humbled 10-1 in the final by a classy Brazilian side.
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom.
“They won their group (and went through first) as well,” Day said.
The boys emerged from a tense penalty shootout win before they changed tactics at half-time in the final when trailing 3-1.
“We played a Brazilian team who had a player that currently plays in the Spanish second division and the rest are all ex-pro Brazilian players,” Day said.
“Nerves probably got us because it’s an international final but 30 to 40 per cent of the boys are under 16 so it was a great result.
“The men’s teams over there were absolute quality.”
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