The 2023 National Para Football Championships kicked off yesterday in Perth, with our CommBank Pararoos and CommBank ParaMatildas in the thick of the action.
Read the full wrap of day two action!
CommBank ParaMatildas
QUEENSLAND 4 - 0 FA SELECT
Georgia Beikoff and Tamsin Colley both made the start for the FA Select time as they searched for their first win of the season against Queensland, with Colley captaining the side. Tahlia Blanshard made her second appearance of the 2023 tournament, coming off the bench in the 20th minute.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA 12 - 0 FA SELECT
Georgia Beikoff captained the FA Select side as the team faced hosts, Western Australia in the last match of Day 2. Six goals to Chris Minutillo, four to Giacomo Izzo, a goal to Allan Sarago Ah-Kee and an own goal from FA Select saw the game finish 12-0 in the hosts' advantage.
CommBank Pararoos
WESTERN AUSTRALIA 5 - 3 VICTORIA
The first game of the day saw the hosts, Western Australia, take on Victoria, and it was the visitors that got on the scoreboard early through Joshua Beekes. Kaylan Van Heer played the ball through from the halfway line to find Beekes, who took the pass in his stride and tucked it past the keeper.
Western Australia had the equaliser in spectacular fashion, Connor Bunce letting his shot fly from outside the box to restore parity. Moments later the home side had the chance to take the lead for the first time in the match after a penalty, with Alessandro La Verghetta making no mistake from the spot to send the visitors in 2-1 up at the break.
The home side added a third just after the interval through Giacomo Izzo. Victoria had the chance to claw a goal back after Beekes was brought down in the box, resulting in the WA keeper getting a straight red card for the challenge and Rafferty Bacon replacing him in goals. Christian Bitsikas made no mistake from the spot to make it 3-2.
WA restored their two-goal lead with a goal to Noah Bremmer-Bell before Joshua Beeks netted his second of the game in stoppage time to make it 4-3. Moments later La Verghetta scored the pick of the bunch, netting his free kick from halfway into the back of the goal to see out the game 5-3.
QUEENSLAND 4 - 0 FA SELECT
Next up, Queensland and FA Select were both looking for their first wins of the campaign when they faced off and it was Queensland who took the lead just 3 minutes into the game through Logan King.
Sail Kozarov doubled the lead for Queensland on the other side of the break to make it 2-0. Queensland made it 3-0 when Bodie Maskey slipped the ball past the keeper and finished into the back of an open net. Soon after Cody Maidment made it 4-0 to Queensland.
NEW SOUTH WALES 4 - 0 VICTORIA
The penultimate game of the day saw Victoria face New South Wales, and it was the defending champions, in NSW, who took the lead through Daniel Campbell, picking the ball up just outside the box and turning and shooting to find the back of the net to give NSW a 1-0 lead heading into the break.
NSW doubled their lead soon after the break with Harry Dowdell adding to his tally for the tournament. The defending champions made it 3-0 with 10 minutes left on the clock thanks to Jeremy Boyce.
The defending champions wrapped up the win with a fourth goal in the final minutes of the game, scored by Timothy Blowes.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA 12 - 0 FA SELECT
Western Australia went into the game one of two sides that remain undefeated so far in this tournament, taking on the FA Select side and getting on the scoreboard in the opening 2 minutes through Allan Sarago Ah-Kee. Chris Minutillo doubled the home side's advantage not long after, a long ball from Connor Bunce split the defence to see Minutillo find the back of the net. Minutillo made it a brace in the 7th minute of the game. He completed his hat-trick not long after to make it 4-0 to the hosts.
WA continued to flex their muscles with Chris Minutillo finding his fourth of the game to make it 5-0. He then made it 6-0, finding the top corner with two defenders on him and pulling out a Tim Cahill-inspired celebration, heading over to box with the corner flag.
Chris Minutillo completed his flurry, scoring his six and making it a double hat-trick before the break to make it 7-0. WA did everything to keep their clean sheet intact, with Connor Bunce making a goal-line save to deny FA Select their first of the tournament.
The other side of the break saw the goal bonanza continuing, with Giacomo Izzo making it 8-0 with his first of the game. Izzo made it a brace just minutes later, with WA on cloud nine. He completed his hat-trick to make it 10-0. An own goal to FA Select saw WA take an 11-0 lead. Izzo netted his fourth goal to make it 12-0 to WA.
Day Three - Friday 6 October:
Game #9 Victoria v FA Select - 9am AWST/12pm AEDT - Watch Here
Game #10 New South Wales v Queensland - 10:45am AWST/1:45pm AEDT - Watch Here
Game #11 (Play In Decider) 5th Place v 4th Place - 1:30pm AWST/4:30pm AEDT - Watch Here
Game #12 SF 2nd Place v 3rd Place - 3pm AWST/6pm AEDT - Watch Here
Game #13 SF 1st Place v Play-In Winner - 5:30pm AWST/8:30pm AEDT - Watch Here
