Courtesy: UEFA.com


Georgia grateful for duo's arrival

Monday 23 February 2009

by Domenic Aquilina from Corradino Pavilion

Giorgi Totladze and Revas Devdariani rode into town to give Georgia the boost they needed and join Greece in going through from UEFA European Futsal Championship preliminary round Group C in Malta.

Georgia boost
Greece had clinched first place and an assured qualifying round berth with a 5-0 defeat of Georgia on Friday, but Avtandil Asatiani's side still had hopes of going through as one of the two best runners-up in the four groups. And having beaten Malta and lost to Greece with less than their allowed complement of 12 players, Georgia at full strength thanks to the two new arrivals on Sunday against Albania and won 3-0 with goals from Irakli Shelegia, David Bobokhidze and Totladze.

Duo's influence
Results elsewhere meant that Georgia ended as the second best runners-up, earning a qualifying round berth against Italy, Belarus and Lithuania from 19 to 22 March, and Asatiani told uefa.com: "The two new players who arrived on Saturday evening were very influential in today's win against Albania. I am happy with the results of my team, and I would like to say a big well done for the organisation of the mini-tournament in Malta."

Greek hope
After that game Greece concluded their campaign with a 5-1 defeat of Malta, and will take on Serbia, Belgium and F.Y.R. Macedonia for a place in the finals in Hungary. Captain Sokratis Mourdoukoutas said: "It will be difficult in the next stage of the tournament, but we will go for it, no doubt about it. It is the first time we have gone through a round and we are very happy." Coach Stefanos Soilemes added: "We are hopeful about the next phase of the tournament. We want to win every match that comes our way. I do think we stand a good chance. This is a very young team, 50 per cent of them are new players, and I must say a big well done to all my players, who have worked really hard in these last four months."






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