Photo credit: Kevin Johnston/Soc Takes

INDIANAPOLIS — The stakes were elevated between Futsal Indy and Grand Rapids ABK, two squads knotted up atop the National Futsal Premier League (NFPL) table with four points apiece, entering Saturday’s contest at Park Tudor High School. And with raised stakes generally comes raised intensity.

Futsal Indy defended its home court with a gritty 6-2 victory over ABK to snag an important three points and sole possession of first place. After earning a draw and a loss in the first two weeks of the season, Futsal Indy (2-1-1) appears to be gelling now with back-to-back wins, one of which avenged the team’s lone loss to FC Tryzub.

“They are definitely getting better,” said club founder and president Rana Hoffbauer. “We had a team meeting (after the loss) and everybody talked, because I think we weren’t initially on the same page because there were so many different backgrounds coming in together. And once the guys all got together and kind of hashed things out, they started playing really well as a team.”

Grand Rapids ABK built an early 1-0 edge to give Indy a brief moment of pause. But from there, it was all Futsal Indy. The hosts netted six unanswered goals to put the match well out of reach. A late ABK strike stopped the hemorrhaging and saved some face, but did little else.

Marcelo De Matos was a workhorse for Futsal Indy. The Brazilian exhibited calmness and confidence on the ball, and explosiveness in tight spaces when he needed to. De Matos tore up the Mayor’s International Futsal Cup this past summer in leading his native country to the title. NFPL sides will quickly get acquainted with his name — if they aren’t already. He finished with a goal and an assist Saturday.

“I played for three years professionally,” De Matos explained. “Unfortunately in Brazil, the salaries are not very good so you have to have like a private sponsor. It was a different time. So, I had to do another thing at that time (to make a living), but the experience was very good.”

Photo credit: Kevin Johnston/Soc Takes

Junyor Zanelatto also turned in a performance worthy of man of the match consideration for the hosts. After assisting on a goal in the first, he notched a brace in the second stanza on two impressive individual efforts, one of which was a blistering free kick near mid court.

“Junyor, he brings energy,” Hoffbauer added. “He’s actually the one that brought all these players together. He is our player-coach. Jana (Novaes-Miknus) is our assistant coach. She manages the bench and he runs all of our trainings, and he gets everybody pumped up. And he teaches them how to play.”

Danilo Carnelos also delivered an impactful shift off the bench for Futsal Indy, making big plays on both ends of the court. He scored once and blocked several ABK shot attempts from testing goalkeeper Enrique Orozco.

Futsal Indy gets next weekend off before welcoming the Ann Arbor Mudpuppies to town Feb. 9. Grand Rapids ABK, meanwhile, will look to climb back up the NFPL table when it hosts the Mudpuppies on Feb. 2.

Follow Kevin on Twitter: @KJboxing.

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