Courtesy: Xinhua


Spain and Portugal enter semi-finals at European Futsal Championships

27/1/2010

BUDAPEST, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- Spain beat Russia 7-6 on penalties while Portugal breezed past Serbia 5-1 on the second semi-final day at the UEFA European Futsal Championships on Tuesday.

With just three games left to decide the winner of this year's tournament, the semi-final line-up matches Spain against the Czech Republic and Portugal against Azerbaijan. Both games will take place on Thursday in Debrecen in eastern Hungary.

Reigning champions and tournament favorites Spain had scored 15 goals in their two groups games but found the going more difficult against Russia. A tense encounter ended in the first ever-goalless knockout game in the tournament's history. The deadlock continued into the penalty shoot-out until, with the teams level at 6-6 each, Spain's Fernandao scored while Konstantin Timoschenkov missed for Russia.

Portugal's second ever Euro futsal semi-final appearance ended happily as they overcame a tired Serbia outfit. The Iberians had struggled in the group stages, narrowly avoiding elimination, but they upped their game against Serbia, a team who had beaten Russia, one of futsal's big guns earlier in the tournament.

Leading by just one goal at half-time, Portugal tore into the Serbs after the break, scoring four goals to book their place in the semi-finals.


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