Courtesy: UEFA.com


Hungary improve while Spain surge on

Thursday 14 January 2010

by Márton Dinnyés from Budapest

Hosts Hungary finished their preparations for the 2010 UEFA European Futsal Championship with a draw and a win against Finland while holders Spain and Ukraine go into next week's finals in ominous form.

Late equaliser
Hungary open the finals against Azerbaijan in Budapest on Tuesday but it was at the other competition venue, Debrecen's Fönix Arena, that they played the first game with Finland and were held 5-5. They led 2-0 on Tuesday after ten minutes through Tamás Lódi and János Madarász, and János Trencsényi made it 3-1 at the break. Finland then took the lead and although Madarász levelled, it went to 5-4 before Lódi's late equaliser.

Improvement
The next day in Nyiregyhaza, Hungary won 5-0, with Madarász again scoring twice to record his 100th goal in 116 international appearances. Zoltán Dróth, János Trencsényi and Csaba Peczá also found the target. Hungary coach Mihály Kozma, whose team also face the Czech Republic in Group A, said: "We played much better in the second game and I could see that the players were concentrating as much as they should before such a great tournament. I especially liked the fact that Finland did not score."

Spain win
Spain begin their title defence against Belarus in Group D on Wednesday and in El Escorial beat the Netherlands 7-1 to end their friendly programme with seven wins and 50 goals. Borja and Daniel scored twice and Kike, Javi Rodríguez and Javi Eseverri also were on target. Álvaro and Fernandao spent the game on the bench with knocks but should be fit for the finals.

Ukraine in form
Ukraine, meanwhile, overcame Poland 4-2 and 4-1 in Lviv. Serhiy Cheporniuk struck twice in the first four minutes of the opener and Valeriy Legchanov and Dmytro Ivanov increased the lead before the break prior to two Poland consolations. The next day it was goalless at the break but then Cheporniuk and Legchanov found the target and after the lead was reduced, Oleksandr Kondratyuk and Denis Ovsyannikov added further goals for Ukraine, who begin their Group B campaign next Thursday in Debrecen against Belgium.


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