Courtesy: UEFA.com


Futsal EURO preview: Group B

Monday 18 January 2010

by Paul Saffer

UEFA European Futsal Championship Group B will conclude on 23 January with a rematch of the 2003 final, with Italy hoping to repeat their victory against Ukraine in Caserta seven years ago. In that competition, Ukraine opened with a 7-2 win against Belgium, who have qualified for the first time since and open the Debrecen-based group against Italy on Tuesday. uefa.com previews the section.

ITALY
Alessandro Nuccorini ended his 12-year reign as coach at the start of 2009, having masterminded the 2003 triumph as well as the runs to the 2007 European Championship and 2004 FIFA Futsal World Cup finals. However, the Azzurri remain a potent force under Roberto Menichelli and did not lose in 13 matches last year. Although some familiar names from the past are gone, new names like Baptistella and Gabriel Lima, plus the returning Luca Ippoliti, have been combining superbly with the more established Marcio Forte and Vinicius Bacaro. They have never failed to reach the semi-finals and it would be a surprise if they did not do so again, at least.

Best performance: 2003 winners

Qualifying: Georgia 10-1, Belarus 3-0, Lithuania 6-0 (Group 4 winners)

Key players: Alexandre Feller (goalkeeper), Baptistella, Luca Ippoliti, Marcio Forte

Roberto Menichelli, coach: "These are the best squads in the continent; you have to be careful in every game."



BELGIUM
A country with a long history in futsal, Belgium qualified for the first two UEFA final tournaments in 1996 and 1999 but this is their first appearance since 2003, when they departed with one point. They were in fine form in qualifying, notably beating Serbia 4-3, and respected coach Benny Meurs has put together a talented multicultural squad, though home losses to both Serbia and Russia in December's Hasselt Tournament have shown the size of their task in a difficult group.

Best performance: 1996 third place

Qualifying: FYR Macedonia 6-0, Greece 4-1, Serbia 4-3 (Group 6 winners)

Key players: Karim Bachar, Karim Chaibai

Benny Meurs, coach: "It has taken six or seven years' hard work, but we are improving all the time."



UKRAINE
Under long-serving coach Gennadiy Lysenchuk, Ukraine became a world-class force in the last decade, finishing as European runners-up in 2001 and 2003. Three years ago a transitional squad were eliminated in the group stage but they certainly have the semi-finals in their sights if they get off to a good start against Belgium on 21 January.

Best performance: 2001 & 2003 runners-up

Qualifying: Andorra 4-2, Netherlands 4-1, Romania 2-2 (Group 1 winners)

Key players: Serhiy Cheporniuk, Valeri Zamyatin, Valeri Legchanov

Gennadiy Lysenchuk, coach: "Two years ago, we played the worst futsal in our history. We want to play the way we did in 2001 and 2003."



Courtesy: UEFA.com


Futsal EURO preview: Group C

Russia won the first full UEFA European Futsal Championship in 1999 and have been strong contenders in every edition – and are so again this time in Group C against dark horses Serbia and Slovenia. Serbia are hoping to build on a promising 2007 performance while Slovenia, in the finals for the first time since ran 2003, ran Russia close in qualifying.

RUSSIA
Placed third in 2007 and runners-up two years before, Russia appointed a new coach last year in the shape of Sergei Skorovich, who led MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg to the 2008 UEFA Futsal Cup title (succeeding domestic rivals MFK Dinamo Moskva) and retains his club role. They qualified with their usual ease and after two friendly losses in Brazil have been on fine form, beating fellow finalists the Czech Republic, Belgium and Belarus. They will hope to go even further than on their 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup semi-final run.

Best performance: 1999 winners

Qualifying: Montenegro 7-1, Slovenia 2-0, France 2-0 (Group 7 winners)

Key players: Sergei Zuev (goalkeeper), Vladislav Shayakhmetov, Cirilo, Pula

Sergei Skorovich, coach: "We set the highest goals, especially because at club level we could not only compete, but won the UEFA Futsal Cup twice with Dinamo and Viz-Sinara. Our league is one of the strongest, we have top players. Our task is to unite them and get them to play quality futsal. If we have luck on our side, we will challenge for highest places.



SLOVENIA
Slovenia lost their three finals games in 2003 but only were beaten 4-3 by Russia and restricted them to a 2-0 in qualifying last March before an impressive 7-1 defeat of Montenegro took them to the finals. Their warm-up form has been mixed with narrow defeats by Belgium and Iran before a win and a loss against FYR Macedonia and draw with Romania, but Slovenia are not easy to beat and certainly will fancy their chances of pipping Serbia. However, there are injury doubts over Rajko Ursic, Igor Osredkar and Gasper Vrhovec.

Best performance: 2003 group stage

Qualifying: France 3-2, Russia 0-2, Montenegro 7-1 (Group 7 runners-up)

Key players: Benjamin Melink, Rajko Ursic, Gorazd Drobnic, Slavisa Goranovic

Andrej Dobovicnik, coach: "We have set ourselves ambitious goals. We want to reach the quarter-finals."



SERBIA
Having not qualified since the days of the former Yugoslavia, Serbia reached the finals in 2007 under former player Aca Kovacevic, who had revived the side the previous year. They performed excellently in losing narrowly to Russia, drawing with eventual champions Spain and beating two-time runners-up Ukraine. They only just made it this time as one of the four best runners-up but have held Italy and beaten Belgium and Belarus in friendlies recently and can call on Marko Peric, one of the revelations of the 2007 finals, though Predrag Rajic, joint top scorer in that competition, left international futsal in June.

Best performance: 1999 (as Yugoslavia), 2007 group stage

Qualifying: Greece 5-2, FYR Macedonia 3-2, Belgium 3-4 (Group 5 runners-up)

Key players: Marko Peric, Mladen Kocic, Milan Rakic

Aca Kovacevic, coach: "Our players have a lot of experience behind them, with the last European Championship and from hard games in European club competition. Maybe this European Championship is our chance to make a big breakthrough."





Courtesy: UEFA.com


Futsal EURO preview: Group D

Spain begin their bid for a third straight UEFA European Futsal Championship title against first-time qualifiers Belarus in the Debrecen-based Group D, which also contains a Portugal side that went close to denying their neighbours in 2007. uefa.com concludes our preview of the finals with a look at a competitive section.

SPAIN
Since winning the 1996 UEFA tournament that preceded the launch of the full championship three years later, Spain have been a dominant force in European futsal and have won the last two titles. Indeed, only in 2003 did they not reach the final. FIFA Futsal World Cup winners in 2000 and 2004, they were denied in a penalty shoot-out by hosts Brazil in the 2008 final. Spain won all 15 of their matches last year, have not lost over 40 minutes since a December 2005 friendly in Brazil, and cruised through their friendly programme with 50 goals in seven wins. José Venancio López, who took over as coach on the eve of the 2007 finals, has proved able to blend veterans Luis Amado, Javi Rodríguez and Kike with newer selections like Juanra.

Best performance: 1996, 2001, 2005, 2007 winners

Qualifying: Moldova 7-0, Kazahkstan 7-0, Slovakia 4-0 (Group 2 winners)

Key players: Luis Amado, Javi Rodríguez, Kike, Daniel

José Venancio López, coach: "It gets harder every time. Everyone thinks we're favourites, but we know Russia are at a high level and have improved a lot in recent years. I believe they're playing better, more as a collective unit. Italy are very strong; they're always very competitive."



BELARUS
Belarus ended their wait to reach a major finals with wins against Lithuania and Georgia but received probably the toughest possible draw, paired with two of the top four from 2007. On top of that, their top man Vadim Lushkovski plus the experienced Ilya Gorin and Aleksei Yuraga and talented striker Vladimir Zhdanovich have all been ruled out. Based around teamwork rather than individual flair, Belarus opted for a tough warm-up programme and losses in Italy and Brazil followed by defeats by Russia and Serbia in Belgium last month exposed the size of their task.

Best performance: first qualification

Qualifying: Lithuania 6-0, Italy 0-3, Georgia 2-0 (Group 4 runners-up)

Key players: Aleksandr Savintsev, Vladimir Levus

Valeri Dosko, coach: "If we play out of our skins, we reach the knockouts. But unfortunately we have big problems with the squad."



PORTUGAL
World Cup semi-finalists in 2000, Portugal reached the same stage in European competition for the first time as hosts in 2007, leading Spain 2-0 with five minutes remaining only for the holders to come back and win on penalties. Orlando Duarte, in charge since 2000, has kept his side performing at a high level, reaching the 2008 World Cup second group stage and losing only to Spain and Brazil last year. However, the withdrawal of the injured Ricardinho, perhaps the player of the 2007 tournament in Porto, is a blow.

Best performance: 2007 semi-finals

Qualifying: Azerbaijan 3-3, Finland 2-1, Poland 8-1 (Group 6 winners)

Key players: João Benedito, Arnaldo, Israel, Joel Queirós.

Orlando Duarte, coach: "It was one of the hardest squads I've named as there are many young talents emerging. It's a good problem for me."


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