All reports posted below are courtesy: Sporting Fingal Official Web Site


Futsal team continue UEFA crusade

28 September 2010

by John Fallon

SPORTING FINGAL’s Futsal team enter new territory for an Irish club today when they begin their UEFA full stage qualifiers in Romania.

The prize earned by Ireland’s finest for topping a preliminary stage featuring Lithuanian hosts FK Nautara Kaunas and Armenia's FC Kaghsi Yerevan is their a shot at making the European Championships.

To achieve that, they need to finish in the top two of another mini-group this week which includes Azerbaijan's Araz Naxçivan, Zelezarec Skopje, Romanian hosts City'us Târgu Mureº and FK Nikars Riga.

Fingal player-coach Junior da Silva believes Araz will be the team to beat.

He told www.uefa.com: "Their players are full-time, they are experienced and were the third-best team in Europe last year so it's a very hard game for us," Da Silva said. "The pressure will be on them as favourites so perhaps we can get a result against them to take into the second match, against the host team, City US Târgu Mureº.

"The Irish players really offer us something: they play with a lot of heart and they fight to win every game, but futsal is still new to Ireland so they are still learning.

"Our players from Brazil, Moldova and Poland have a different style and they have been playing futsal for longer so it's a good mix to have in the squad, we have a very strong panel and they all get on well as a group."

He added: "I am player/coach and I like to play in our domestic games when I can, but for the UEFA matches I need to focus on my coaching role so I won't put myself in the team."




Brave Futsal team beaten in UEFA opener

28 September 2010

by John Fallon

4-2 up in the second half, Sporting Fingal were set up for a famous win over full-timers Araz Necaxcivan today (Tues) but they eventually lost 7-4 in their UEFA group opener in Romania.

To put some context on Fingal's display, it's worth considering that Araz are a fully professional outfit with a huge budget while Fingal are amateurs playing in our Emerald League..

Araz also finished in third place in last season’s Futsal Champions League (UEFA Futsal Cup).

MaLangtry, Hygo Cezar (2) and Rodrigo de Melo netted Fingal's goals.

Fingal gave the Azeri outfit the shock of their lives in their opening group match in the main qualifying round in Romania.

Sporting actually led 4-2 early in the second half but a late collapse cost them a chance of history.

It started badly for the Irish side when they were punished for some sloppy passing to allow Konstantin Dushkevich open the scoring just 54 seconds into the tie.

Irish coach Junior Da Silva must have feared the worst when his compatriot Anderson extended Araz’s lead in the eighth minute.

But Fingal have proven themselves to be a side of no little quality themselves and had a golden spell that handed them control of the game either side of half-time.

Republic of Ireland futsal international skipper Mark Langtry fired them back in the tie in the 14th minute and five minutes later Brazilian marksman Hygo Cezar levelled the tie.

Fingal were in dreamland when Rodrigo de Melo gave them the lead 47 seconds before the end of the first half and things got even better when Cezar netted again five minutes into the second half.

Araz – many of whom also starred in Azerbaijan’s recent run to the UEFA Championships semi-finals – showed their quality in the final ten minutes to wrest control back from Fingal.

Luciano pulled one back in the 31st minute then two goals in 16 seconds from Felipe and Anderson put Araz back in front.

Fingal never recovered from that disappointment and further goals from Vitaliy Borisov with four minutes left and then Eder in the 38th minute gave the final score and unflattering 7-4 look.

“I can only be proud of my players to put on a performance like that against a full-time professional outfit,” said Fingal coach Da Silva.

“We must recover quickly now as we have to play the hosts City us Targu Mures who are another professional side but if we produce a similar display I will be very pleased.

“The experience and tranquillity of the Araz Naxcivan players made the difference in the last minutes. They worked the ball very well and had the opportunity to turn around and win the game.

“We could see that we can compete with clubs with extensive experience in Europe and in the global scenario. Now, what we will do is analyze our failures and prepare ourselves to reverse this in the next matches.”

Araz Naxcivan: Tveryankin; Felipe, Dushkevich, Farzaliyev, Borisov; Salyanski, Luciano, Anderson, Zeynalov, Eder, Gambarov.

Sporting Fingal EID: Fornal; de Melo, Cezar, Anderson Nunes, Isaias Lima; Carry, Langtry, Zambra, Melo, Leandro, Musteata, Neto.




UEFA Cup hopes dashed for Futsal team

30 September 2010

by John Fallon

City'us Târgu Mureº 8-2 Sporting Fingal EID

SPORTING FINGAL EID's dreams of a place in the elite round of the UEFA Futsal Cup ended after a comprehensive defeat at the hands of Romanian professional City'us Târgu Mureº.

For a brief moment the Irish side believed they had a chance of history after Hygo Cezar had put the Dubliners in front in the eighth minute.

But the mini-tournament hosts upped a gear and for an amateur side facing a professional outfit for the second night in a row, Sporting could not maintain their impressive start.

Five goals in ten first half minutes gave Mures control of the tie with Matei, Gherman, Stoica, Radu and Lupu all finding the net.

Fingal were given some hope when influential Brazilian Rodrigo de Melo scored seconds before the break from a ten-metre penalty after the home side had committed six first half fouls.

Mures captain Gherman proved the difference in the second half with two goals in the opening ten minutes after the restart before Stoica added his second goal late on to complete the scoring.

FAI Futsal Co-ordinator Derek O'Neill said: "The score-line doesn't reflect on the quality Sporting have produced in this competition and I hope they get the win they deserve in their final fixture against Nikars Riga.

"Everybody involved in Irish futsal is proud of what Fingal have achieved this year and we hope it will lead to further success for Irish clubs in Europe."

City'us Târgu Mureº: Carlao, Matei, Nicusan, Lupu, Gherman; Klein, Radu, Domingues, Nuninho, Stoica, Ignat, Paulinho.

Sporting Fingal EID: Fornal, Langtry, de Melo, Cezar, Lima; Carry, Zambra, Melo, Anderson Nunes, Maia, Musteata, Neto.


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