Text by Milan Petrinec - International manager of Slovak futsal

Two victories for Slovakia

Friendly matches between teams of Slovakia and the Netherlands ended up very positive for the Slovak futsal players. The two teams, ranked 17th and 20th in world ranking played friendlies in the cities of Bratislava and Nove Zamky with almost identical results. Slovak and Dutch selection recently swapped coaches, the Slovak national team is being coached by Richard Baco, and Marcel Loosveld is in charge of “the tulips”.

Before the meetings, Richard Baco evaluated the Dutch team as follows: "We have quite good knowledge about the Dutch team. After the unsuccessful European Championship qualifying, they changed the coach. The star of this team is the technically great skilled El Allouchi, but the latest reports say, that he did not come to Slovakia. Let’s see. The dutch team has great power, as evidenced by two recent draws with the Czech Republic, the bronze medal team from this year's European Championship"

Mario Gasparovic (goalkeeper), a longtime leader of the national team and Slov-matic FOFO Bratislava was expecting 2 tough matches: "I think the Dutch are about the same level as we are. We have something to pay back to them – we lost 2 friendlies in Holland 1,5 years ago. I think, that if we play our standard, we will win."

Following the 7:2 victory in the first match, the captain of the Slovak national team, Ladislav Mikita was satisfied as well: "I always trust the team and I'm glad it worked today. The Dutch are a top team, technically very skilled. In the first half, we had some problems with that, but fortunately, we were able to eliminate their strengths with our combinations and I am happy, that we also scored some goals."

The Slovak team started the first match with Dalibor Repa in the goal – best goalkeeper of the national league in last season. And he also showed, that he is a real pro: “First of all, I would like to say, that the guys helped me a lot today. We played some great defence and I think, that altogether, it was a very good match. The atmosphere in Pasienky, that the spectators created, was wonderful and I hope, that it will continue like this. This sport deserves to be more presented in the media and also that the people like it.”

Marcel Loosveld, the new coach of the dutch national team, was not satisfied after the match: “I think, that the final score is obvious. For us and for our football nation, this defeat is too heavy and of course, I am not satisfied. Both me and the players are very unhappy. We will have a look at this first match, I want to analyze it with the players. We have to prepare for the second match.
We have to play differently. It is ok to lose, but important is the will, attention and concentration. It is not just about playing great. You don’t get anything for free. If you want to win, you have to work very hard.”

National coach of the Slovak team, Richard Baco, obviously did not have reasons to be unhappy: "I only can rate this match very positively and I am glad that it went like this. I am very happy with our effectivity. We scored 7 goals against the national team of Netherlands, which does not happen every day. The victory is very good. The guys wanted to undo the big dissapointment from Finland. After the 1st half, we wanted to continue in the tempo and the style of game that we played in the 1st half. We also wanted to remain confident, that we can win this game."

Pivot and double scorer of the national team of Netherlands, Omar Nejjari: “It is tough to compare the previous 2 meetings with the Slovaks. We won both of those matches. I did not expect that it could end like this. We had a tactical plan which did not work today. Slovakia played well and the result is deserved. I don´t feel so good about defeat 2:7. I scored twice, but that is not important. For me and for my teammates, it was important that we go out and win. But we played bad and lost.”

Slovakia was happy also after the 2nd match in Nové Zámky. The home team won 7:3.

Richard Baco: “I am glad, that I could play the new guys as well – Martin Cintula and Peter Peciar, who experienced their debut in the national team. In these friendlies, it is very good, if you as a coach use all the players that you have on the roster. I am very happy, that they found their way into the team. This means, that the doors to the national team are opened for them. The dutch team surprised me, that they concentrated on their first four again. Sometimes we profited of that, mostly in the 2nd half when the opponent made 7 accumulated fouls. Vojtech Varady used 1 of the 2 10-meter shots and we were back in the driving seat.”

Marcel Loosveld, after yet another heavy defeat, again, was not happy at all: “The first half was almost identical compared to the first match. We were able to score twice, but a couple of minutes after some changes made to the squad, we conceded again. We have analyzed the first match, we explained them, where they need to improve. Despite that, it was not enough to achieve a better result than a 3:7 defeat. It is a lesson for me and I have to give credit to the Slovak national team. It is a great and physically strong team. Congratulations to the coach Richard Baco.”

There was a big questionmark above Najib El Allouchi, who was coming back from an injury. Marcel Loosveld said about him: “We talked to him. He is training with a dedicated coach and it looks very positive. However, he also has to listen and to do the things that we advise him, to get back to that quality that he showed with an entirely different team in November 2008. Then he can become one of the best dutch players. You do not get anything for free, a lot of countries is improving very fast and there you have to do more than just to lead the ball.”

What about the captains and their assessment of the matches?

Ladislav Mikita: “I think, that the Dutch did not expect this from us. I think, that it was a mental setback for them that we took fast leads after nice combinations. In the past matches in the Netherlands, we always trailed and they were up, but this time it turned. I think, that they were surprised by our great play. I am very happy, that we repeated the great performance in the 2nd match and I dare to say, that we even played 10-20% better than on Monday. If we will work this hard, then it has a future.”

Samir Makhoukhi: “We played better on Tuesday, because, to be honest, we were a little bit surprised, Slovakia really has a good team. Our disadvantage was, that we made some individual errors and Slovakia used their chances. In the 2nd match, it was tough to come back after trailing 1:3 in the 1st half. We tried to push the Slovaks into their defensive zone, but they were again able to score twice. Then it was really very tough for us to come back. We lost both matches, 2:7 and 3:7. I was really expecting something different when we were traveling here. We entered both matches with the objective to win, but instead, we are traveling back home with 2 heavy setbacks. We failed in the defence and mostly because of individual errors. The coach warned us to focus on these mistakes, but the Slovaks just forced us to do those errors again.”


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