Futsal Planet

Greece vs Albania

OFFICIAL MATCH REPORT

by Damon Shaw from Tripoli

Delayed by 10 minutes due to heavy traffic, Greece and Albania went head to head today in the 23rd September Hall with the winners set to take on Turkey in the playoff for 9th place. The UEFA rivals, who are both in action in the EURO 2012 preliminary round in January, showed a good game of controlled and tactical futsal – a stark contrast to Turkey’s earlier exploits against Algeria!

Greece edged the tight battle of the neighbouring countries but it was Albania who took the lead against the run of play. Greece were the strongest team in the opening 5 minutes and Albania can thank Bledar Hackaj in their goal for keeping them out.

Albania almost gifted a goal to their rivals after seven minutes. Instead of playing the ball out of play into safety, Dorian Dajko cleared centrally straight to Gkritzalis who controlled before shooting wide. It was a let off for Albania and only two minutes later Alban Neziri put the Albanians in front with a superb finish from wide that went in off the far post. Achis had no chance.

Greece eventually punished sloppy play by Albania when Christos Theodoropoulos capitalised on a mistake to score a thundering drive into the roof of the net from the left for his first goal of the tournament and only seconds before the half time buzzer Greece took the initiative through Antonios Manos, to take his tally to three, equalling his teammate Delaportas’ goalscoring record in the Mediterranean Futsal Cup.

With all the goals coming in the first half, the second half could have been dull to watch but with only one goal in it, it proved to be a tactical battle with defences on top.

Both goalkeepers had some work to do to keep their respective sides in it, with the Albania goalkeeper Bledar Hackaj on top form to keep the score down. Despite trailing, Albania didn’t push that many men forward, even in the dying moments of the half, they allowed Greece time on the ball and didn’t push for the equaliser.
The most exciting part of the game came after the final whistle when the Albanians were leaving the court, a disagreement between two of the players resulted in a skirmish forcing the rest of the team to intervene. It wasn’t a pleasant end to their game and no doubt it came out of frustration after having been beaten by their neighbours and rivals, Greece.

Antonios Manos took his tally of goals to three and scored the all important winning goal today so takes the Futsal Planet MVP award.

Greece will face Turkey in the game for 9th place and Albania will play Algeria for 11th place in the final day of the Mediterranean Futsal Cup.

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