Courtesy: UEFA.com


Portugal reach first final on penalties

Thursday 28 January 2010

Match report by Paul Saffer from Fönix Arena

Portugal are through to Saturday's UEFA European Futsal Championship final against holders Spain after knocking out debutants Azerbaijan on penalties.

Shoot-out
The sides drew 3-3 in qualifying and the 40 minutes ended similarly, Portugal trailing at the break but scoring twice in a second-half minute, only for Biro Jade to instantly propel himself into joint-first place for the adidas Golden Boot with his fifth goal of the finals. However, in the shoot-out, Portugal won through to their first final thanks to five perfect strikes.

Azerbaijan ahead
Portugal were immediately on the attack, going close three times in the first 40 seconds, before a mis-hit Arnaldo effort fell to Pedro Cary, who had one shot blocked on the line by Felipe then a second stopped by Serjão. In the fourth minute, Azerbaijan coach Alecio, missing Alves due to a knee injury, deployed Biro Jade as flying goalkeeper in an attempt to relieve the pressure. It worked too, as now Portugal were chasing shadows as the opposition passed at will. In the eighth minute, after one such move, Serjão squared for Thiago to open the scoring.

Goal exchange
Perhaps Alecio should have stuck with the flying goalkeeper because after conventional No1 Andrey Tveryankin returned, Portugal resumed control, Arnaldo winning the ball and sending Cardinal clear to equalise. Azerbaijan were soon back in possession, though, Vitaliy Borisov nearly restoring the lead on three occasions before Serjão's incisive ball from deep found Felipe wide on the left and his shot flew past Bébé.

Frantic minute
The open nature of the game continued in the second half, with Rizvan Farzaliyev flicking a Thiago shot on to the post. Within six minutes of the restart, Portugal had committed their fifth foul of the half but not long afterwards they were level, Pedro Costa's shot turned in at the far post by Joaõ Matos. Thirty-five seconds later Pedro Costa put Portugal in front, pouncing after Cardinal's strike was only parried by Tveryankin. The lead lasted less than a minute, though, as Borisov played a corner back to Biro Jade to beat Bébé from ten metres.

Portugal prevail
Just as against Ukraine in the quarter-finals, Azerbaijan were going to penalties after a 3-3 draw, with Portugal keen to avoid their spot-kick fate at the hands of Spain at this stage in 2007. Bébé blocked Azerbaijan's second strike from Thiago and Gonçalo Alves converted the decisive spot-kick. Azerbaijan remain in Debrecen for Saturday's third-place play-off against the Czech Republic for which Biro Jade is suspended.





Courtesy: UEFA.com


Spain set up all-Iberian decider

Thursday 28 January 2010

Match report by Paul Saffer from Fönix Arena

UEFA European Futsal Championship holders Spain will take on Portugal in Saturday's final after yet another virtuoso show helped them cruise past the Czech Republic.

Comfortable win
It was 4-0 at the break as Spain struck three times with clever moves before goalkeeper Luis Amado punted into an empty net. Four more goals followed in the second half for José Venancio López's charges, who will hope to repeat their 6-1 group-stage defeat of Portugal here on Saturday to claim a third straight European title. The Czech Republic, meanwhile, will aim to reverse the same scoreline when they are rematched with Azerbaijan for third place.

Spain ahead
Spain had won all ten previous meetings with the Czech Republic and began in confident mood against a side without suspended Marek Kopecky. In the second minute Kike shot wide and had a second effort saved by the Czechs' quarter-final shoot-out hero Libor Gercak, but the defender soon made a goal, chipping over a cross from the right for captain Javi Rodríguez to head into an unguarded net. The Czech Republic were not being overrun, Amado emerging from goal several times for crucial touches, but Ortiz and Jordi Torras both kept Gercak busy. It was Ortiz who then doubled the lead, starting a neat move before shooting in from a tight angle after being sent clear by Fernandao's reverse pass.

Keeper scores
Now it was time for the familiar sight of David Fric donning the flying goalkeeper's jersey, though Gercak regularly returned and denied Javi Rodríguez, who himself got back for at least one saving tackle. Spain were moving forward well on the counter and twice Gercak did well to deny Daniel. However, the goalkeeper's stretched leg could not keep out a great long-range Ortiz drive. Then, with Fric back in the keeper's shirt, Amado saved from Lukas Resetar before drop-kicking the length of the pitch for his maiden goal in eleven years of UEFA competition.

Borja trickery
Although they were always going to be hard-pressed to come back from 4-0 down, as they did against Hungary, the Czechs started the second half brightly, with Martin Dlouhy teeing up Resetar to shoot narrowly wide and Amado saving from Michal Belej. However, Spain made it five when Borja picked up a Kike pass and showed some impressive trickery to round Gercak and tap in. Fernandao got the sixth after good work from Lin and veteran Daniel claimed two two late strikes, though a consolation from Dlouhy ensured the Czech Republic avoided being on the end of the record scoreline in a Futsal EURO final tournament, registered when Spain defeated Belarus 9-1 here last Wednesday.





Courtesy: UEFA.com


Gonçalo's poise key for Portugal

Friday 29 January 2010

Match review by Nuno Tavares & Pavle Gognidze from Debrecen

Gonçalo Alves converted the penalty that took Portugal into their first UEFA European Futsal Championship final and told uefa.com: "Without any kind of vanity I can honestly say I was pretty calm."

Victory
In the 2007 semi-finals in Porto, Gonçalo gave Portugal the lead against Spain but his side were to lose on spot-kicks. This time against Azerbaijan in Debrecen, Portugal twice came from behind to draw 3-3 and then won the shoot-out 5-3, with Gonçalo's last effort ensuring a rematch with Spain in Saturday's final.

Thinking
"Without any kind of vanity I can honestly say I was pretty calm and confident before taking my penalty," Gonçalo said. "I was paying attention to the penalties before mine and I saw that their goalkeeper always picked a side before our player shot. I just waited to see where he was going and than shot. Now we will enjoy this moment and then think about the final. But we will play to win, that's for sure."

Tactics
Portugal beat Serbia 5-1 in the quarter-finals but competition debutants Azerbaijan proved much tougher, just as they did when the sides' opening qualifier finished 3-3 in March. "They made our task very hard but I think that we deserved to reach the final," Gonçalo added. "It was a completely different game from the one against Serbia. Azerbaijan have a slower rhythm and we had to be more rational in the way we approached the match. They did surprise us when they fielded a flying goalkeeper after just five minutes in what was a very intelligent move from their coach. They managed to score a goal but we rallied back and in the end we were more effective in the penalty shoot-out."

'Not a defeat'
The goalkeeper Gonçalo beat to win the game, Andrey Tveryankin, was the hero in the last-eight shoot-out against Ukraine, saving twice, but the worm turned this time. "It seems we have had to pay for the penalties victory in the quarter-finals," he said. "I think the team took this result in the right way. This is not a defeat, I even think we played better. Possibly we lacked experience at this top level, otherwise we would not have made mistakes like we did when Portugal scored their goals. Now we have to congratulate them on their victory."

Flying goalkeeper
It could have been so different had they held their early lead, a result of coach Alecio's clever idea to use Biro Jade as a flying goalkeeper in the fourth minute. Vitaliy Borisov explained: "This was a pre-planned thing for the semi-final. If we had kicked-off, we would have subbed Tveryankin for Biro right away. But as the Portuguese were kicking-off, we had to first recover the ball and then get in Biro, who was hiding away on the bench." It was in vain, however. "Lady Luck was on Portugal's side tonight," Borisov rued.





Courtesy: UEFA.com


Spanish graft reaps final reward

Friday 29 January 2010

Match review by David Baño & Paul Saffer from Debrecen

Spain's 8-1 UEFA European Futsal Championship semi-final defeat of the Czech Republic may have looked a breeze but coach José Venancio López revealed the hard graft that has left them a Saturday decider against Portugal away from their third consecutive continental title.

Comfortable win
The holders were four up at the break, Ortiz scoring the second and third from well-rehearsed moved before goalkeeper Luis Amado punted in before the break with the Czechs committed to attack. It was an exhibition after the break, as Spain completed the biggest knockout win this tournament has ever seen.

Coach's praise
Venancio López told uefa.com: "We showed throughout that we were a much better team than the Czech Republic. We had a great first half. We did well in all sort of situations. We scored twice from set-pieces. We had control of the match, we pressed them well, they could not get out of their half. We also defended well in the five against four situation, when they played with the flying goalkeeper. It was decisive to reach half-time at 4-0, a scoreline which was almost impossible for them to overcome.

Hard work
"I'm very happy about the set-pieces. It shows that hard work pays off in the end. We killed the match with the second and third goal, which came up from set-pieces. The second goal was a set-piece we have been doing for ages, but not yet in this tournament. We were leaving it for the right moment. We were able to surprise them and we scored. We must congratulate ourselves for that. As for Luis Amado's goal, he has trained for that many times, so I'm not surprised he scored like that. We practice it a lot. All of this is the result of very hard work and the competitive mentality our team has."

Gracious in defeat
Czech coach Tomas Neumann, who led his nation to their first semi-final since 2003, was gracious in defeat. "We all know Spain are a very good team," he said. "Their futsal is of a far higher level than ours. We needed a lot of things to come together for us to win, for example a lot of luck. Our finishing wasn't as good as we expected. These two things didn't work out for us, that's why we weren't able to win. It's a huge, huge success for us to get this far. I'm proud of the team for managing to reach this stage. It is kind of a surprise, and as we are here we will fight for third place."


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