Courtesy: News.Az


Azerbaijan reach European futsal championship semis

Tue 26 January 2010

Azerbaijan went through to the semi-finals of the European Futsal Championship after beating Ukraine on penalties last night in Budapest.

The score at the end of full-time was 3:3, while Azerbaijan won 4:2 on spot-kicks.

The match started disastrously for Azerbaijan, the UEFA European Futsal Championship Group A winners, as they conceded inside eight seconds, uefa.com reported.

Azerbaijan twice came from behind to go 3-2 up before Ukraine levelled again. With 12 seconds left, Ukraine also missed a double penalty, and Azerbaijan's keeper Andrey Tveryankin then made two shoot-out saves, to allow Rizvan Farzaliyev to strike the winner.

Farzaliyev scored Azerbaijan's first goal and their winning penalty. Thiago and Biro Jade netted during normal time for Azerbaijan, while Serjao, Thiago and Jade all scored in the penalty shoot-out.

"When they got the double penalty at the end, I thought: 'This is it: If they score, we go home'," the 30-year-old Farzaliyev told uefa.com. "It's great for us that they didn't and in the penalty shoot-out Lady Luck and Andrey Tveryankin were on our side. He is the best goalkeeper but everyone on our team was the best tonight."

Spekaing after the match, Azerbaijan's coach Jose Alecio da Silva noted that his charges could have played better.

“Ukraine took the chance to make frequent substitutions which had a positive influence on their game”, Alecio said. “We don't have the squad to change players so frequently. We must prepare better for the semifinal. We have an excellent chance of reaching the final. Before the start of today's match, I told the players that we should put in our best performance of the championship."

Alesio also praised Rizvan Farzaliyev's role in their victory.

On 28 January Azerbaijan will play the winners of today's quarter-final between Serbia and Portugal.

The Czech Republic beat Italy on penalties in yesterday's other quarter-final. Russia and Spain are to play their last eight game today.




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