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FAI.ieIreland Senior Futsal team prepare to host UEFA qualifiersTuesday, 17 February 2009The Republic of Ireland Senior futsal team begin their qualifying campaign in the UEFA Futsal Championship tonight, Thursday, against Cyprus at the National Basketball Arena, Tallaght (8pm).
Ireland are hosts to Group A and will also face England on Friday (20.02.09) with the final match of the qualifying round against Kazakhstan on Sunday (22.02.09). Both Cyprus and Kazakhstan are experienced futsal teams, with Kazakhstan group favourites for the preliminary qualifiers. Ireland and England are more closely matched, a game last December resulted in a 3-3 draw.
This is a double first for Futsal in Ireland, it is the first time a team has been involved at senior level in a UEFA Championship and it is the first time Ireland have hosted an official UEFA Futsal Championship match. All three matches will be played in the National Arena, Tallaght.
Derek O ‘Neill, Republic of Ireland Senior futsal team manager, commented “Preparations have been going well. We had a good training session last Friday night and we’ll have a light training session again before the Cyprus game. We’re anticipating some fantastic futsal over the three qualifiers, in particular the England game should be a real crowd pleaser.”
O ‘Neill added, “Futsal is big in much of Europe but it’s relatively new to Ireland. It’s really developing as a sport here. Futsal is not only great to play, it also serves to help players’ master essential technical skills such as ball control and passing. With so many people playing 5-a-side football in Ireland, it’s bound to increase in status and popularity in the future. This is the first opportunity we’ve had to really showcase futsal to the general public and we’ve no doubt they’ll be impressed.”
The Senior team has developed from the Under-21 Irish futsal team which took part in the Under-21 UEFA Futsal Championship in Andorra in 2008 and made their Senior debut against Hungary last November.
Cyprus enter group A of the UEFA Futsal Championship qualification round as second highest ranked team. For Konstantinos Petros, Cypriot coach, their objective for this tournament is clear, they hope to finish in one of the top two positions with hopes being firmly set on finishing first position and automatically qualifying for the next round of the Championship.
Petros rates Kazakhstan as the biggest threat in the group, having played them twice, once in a European Championship and once in the Futsal World Cup, over the last two years. Both times, Kazakhstan were victors but Cyprus hope to use past experiences to their advantage this time.
Commenting on the lesser experienced sides of the tournament, Ireland and England, Petros said “Our information tells us both England and Oreland are very good teams, they’re not so experienced but have skilled young players and you just have to be careful against them.” He added, “We play to win every time and it’s not easy facing a team in their own country."
The Cypriots team’s strengths no doubt lies in their experience, some of the players have six or seven years of futsal experience under their belt. However, for this tournament they’ve worked on bringing through some younger players and the squad is a good mix of youth and experience.
Qualification for the UEFA futsal Championship involves 38 nations, with 16 competing in the preliminary round. The four group winners and two best runner-ups will join 22 other teams in the main qualifying stage. 12 teams will take part in the finals due to be held in Budapest, Hungary in 2010.
Republic of Ireland squad:
John Perkins (Sporting Fingal Futsal)
Keith Gallagher (Bluebell United)
Mark Langtry (Unattached)
Philip McDonagh (Drumcondra FC)
Ian Byrne (Sporting Fingal Futsal)
Gary McCabe (Bray Wanderers)
Dane Massey (Bray Wanderers)
Thomas Morgan (Sporting Fingal Futsal)
Lloyd Massey (Shamrock Rovers)
Alan Lynch (Unattached)
Craig Duggan (Cork City)
Brendan Dawson (Sporting Fingal Futsal)
Alan Barrett (WFTA)
Shane O Neill (Bray Wanderers)
Fixtures are as follows:
Thursday 19th February
England V Kazakhstan
Kickoff at 6pm
Cyprus V Ireland
Kickoff at 8pm
Friday 20th February
Kazakhstan V Cyprus
Kickoff at 6pm
Ireland V England
Kickoff at 8pm
Sunday 22nd February
Cyprus V England
Kickoff at 4pm
Ireland V Kazakhstan
Kickoff at 6pm.
Captain Mark Langtry remains positive and focused ahead of UEFA Futsal Championship openerThursday, 19 February 2009Captain of the Republic of Ireland Futsal squad, Mark Langtry, looks forward to the challenges ahead as Ireland begin their UEFA qualifying campaign this evening when they take on Cyprus in the National Basketball arena (Thursday 19th February). Ireland, who are new to competing in UEFA Futsal tournaments, have plenty of strengths to play to in this tournament, Langtry said, “Our defending is excellent, one of our real strong points is that we can keep teams at deadlock making it difficult for them to score against us. We’ve got some great individual players who are very skilled and can put together some great finishes.”
Remarking on Ireland’s games against Cyprus, Langtry believes it’s hard to tell how this one will go, “We’ve never played them before, going on their past results they look a strong side and have being playing futsal longer than we have. Although we’re confident enough at this stage, we’re not going to take them for granted.”
Ireland has already seen England in action, having played them last November in what was a thrilling 3-3 draw. Ireland play England on Friday night and for the Irish captain, knowing the side makes all the difference and has boosted the side’s confidence for this game.
Sunday sees Ireland take on a strongly fancied Kazakhstan side. Kazakhstan is seen to be Ireland’s biggest threat, although a rest day before the game should ensure the Irish side are rested ahead of the game. Ireland are hoping for two good results before this one and hope to keep the momentum going to win this match and come out on top of the group.
As captain initially of the Under-21 and now the senior futsal team, Langtry is experienced in leading the young Irish futsal Senior side, “The lads don’t need me to motivate them, they are always up for the game, we all know what we’re up against and there’s no slackers in the side. We’re all hoping to qualify, it’s the only reason we’re here.”
The Republic of Ireland Senior futsal team compete in Group A of the UEFA Futsal Championship this week. This is the first time Ireland has competed in Futsal at senior level. Ireland are hosts to Group A against Cyprus, England and Kazakhstan. Should Ireland qualify, the next round will see the team play Spain, who are considered to be the top futsal team in the world, having won four out of the six previous UEFA Championship finals, however with three matches to play before qualification Langtry’s not looking that far ahead, just yet.
Boys in green hope for result against Cyprus in UEFA Futsal ChampionshipThursday, 19 February 2009 Ireland play their first game in the UEFA Futsal Senior Championship against Cyprus tonight (19.02.09) in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght. Ian Byrne began playing futsal with Bohemians in the Futsal League of Ireland, progressing to the Ireland Under-21 team which played in the UEFA futsal Under-21 Championship before being called up for the Irish senior futsal team. Cyprus are somewhat of an unknown quantity in this championship but their real strength lies in their futsal experience. The Irish side have been preparing by analysing video footage of Cyprus in action, Byrne said, “We’ve been looking for their strengths and weaknesses but overall they look good, they have good blocking techniques and are very technical.”
However, the Irish side are also technically gifted and have developed a lot since the formation of the senior squad. The side have travelled to Budapest and England in order to get some futsal experience under their belts. Such trips have helped the boys gel together as a team and this bond should really start to show on the pitch.
Byrne has noticed a definite improvement in his own game, adding “Futsal is such a quick game, it helps you express yourself on the pitch and really adds to your technical game. It’s definitely helped develop my awareness of what’s going on around me.”
Commenting on Irelands chances against the Cypriots, Byrne said, “We need to be disciplined and keep our concentration. We think we’re well capable of beating them and we’re going to go out there and give it everything we’ve got.”
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luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com
