Courtesy: UEFA.com


Finalist quartet end 2008 on top

Friday 26 December 2008

All the contenders at next April's UEFA Futsal Cup final four in Ekaterinburg go into 2009 in good heart after ending the year in good domestic form.

Level
Holders MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg will host the event and are in a tight race with fellow semi-finalists MFK Dinamo Moskva in the Russian Super League. Dinamo, deposed as European champions on home territory eight months ago, are aiming for a seventh straight domestic title and despite losing twice to Ekaterinburg in September, 5-4 and 6-3 wins at MFK Mytischi in this week moved them level on points with Viz-Sinara. That was because Ekaterinburg were held 1-1 by lowly MFK Lipetsk before a 6-0 victory as they chase a first-ever league championship, with the top two ten points ahead of MFK Tyumen.

Rudnev pleased
Dinamo coach Yuri Rudnev, for who Cirilo scored five goals over the two games at Mytischi, said: "For us it was very important to win the last game this year. And it is also important from the psychological point of view that we have finished this calendar year top of the table." Ekaterinburg coach Sergei Skorovich: "[In the first game against Lipetsk] we did not earn the victory, but we did not dwell on this as we proved [with the subsequent win]. Life goes on, the whole season is yet to come. This year has brought us many positives." Ekaterinburg's visit to Dinamo for games on 17 and 18 February will go a long way to deciding the title but both teams still have 30 fixtures to play.

Interviú stay ahead
Spanish champions Interviú Madrid lead the way in the División de Honor regular season, maintaining their three-point lead over ElPozo Murcia FS after both drew their last fixtures of the year. While Murcia were held 3-3 at FC Barcelona, Interviú drew 2-2 at MRA Navarra FS. The top eight teams in May will progress to the play-offs but a higher league finish ensures better seeding.

Kairat stride on
The remaining semi-finalists, Kairat Almaty, look in good shape to retain the Kazakh title. This season's league is being decided by five sets of fixtures in which all of the league contenders take turns to acts as hosts for five-day events in which every team plays all others. It has been Kairat's turn to host the third of these series, and having begun eight points clear of Aktyubrentgen Aktobe extended that advantage to 12. Kairat were held 7-7 by Ayat Rudny but then Tulpar Karagandy overcame Aktyubrentgen 7-2 before Kairat beat Tulpar 5-3 and Kalkan Astana 4-3. The top two met on Friday with the gap up to nine points and Kairat overcame Aktyubrentgen 5-3 to remain unbeaten 12 games into the 20-match season knowing that four more victories in the next set of fixtures would give them an unassailable lead.







Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com