Courtesy: UEFA.com


Chrudim through, Iberia and Marca win

FK EP Chrudim beat Akademia FC Pniewy 5-2 to qualify from the main round while Iberia Star Tbilisi and Marca Futsal were among the winners as three more groups began.

Tuesday 27 September 2011

FK EP Chrudim are the second team to win through the UEFA Futsal Cup main round after finishing Group 4 with victory on a day when there were opening wins for the likes of Iberia Star Tbilisi and Marca Futsal.

While Belgium's Châtelineau Futsal had already secured first place and an elite round berth from Group 4 – which began at the weekend – second position was up for grabs. Czech competition regulars Chrudim only needed a draw against Polish hosts Akademia FC Pniewy to progress thanks to their goal difference, but in any case won 5-2, set on their way by two early Michal Mareš goals, his brother Roman striking twice late on.

Norwegian debutants Vegakameratene were already out but seemed to be heading for an impressive win against Châtelineau until Zico's goal with 35 seconds left made it 2-2. Châtelineau and Chrudim now await the 11 October elite round draw, with the games in mid-November.

While Group 4 is now over, three of the other five main round pools began. In Georgia the only side to compete in every UEFA Futsal Cup edition, Iberia Star Tbilisi, opened with a 4-0 win against FC Mapid Minsk in front of 4,200 fans − a main round record. Luiz Baptista scored twice for Iberia, who will go through tomorrow if they beat FC Geneva, held 5-5 by Slov-Matic Bratislava and only denied a surprise win by late goals from Zdenĕk Sláma and Peter Halko.

Italian champions Marca Futsal, whose compatriots ASD Città di Montesilvano C/5 will begin their title defence in the elite round, made their European debut with a 6-0 Group 5 victory against FS Ilves Tampere, Jonas Pinto and Massimo De Luca striking twice. The experienced Adriano Foglia, who joined Marca from Montesilvano after their triumph in Almaty, was particularly impressive.

Romanian hosts City'US Târgu Mureş overcame Marca's Wednesday opponents, MNK Split, 4-1 in a game that was goalless at half-time. Split had Franko Jelovčić and Tihomir Novak dismissed after the break.

KMF Ekonomac Kragujevac, staging Group 6 in Serbia, defeated Asa Ben Gurion 6-2 in their first match, though the Israeli side put in a stout performance before being overwhelmed in the second half. In what looked like a potential upset, Cypriot side AC Omonia led 2-0 and 3-2 against Uragan Ivano-Frankovsk, but the Ukrainian side came back to prevail 6-4, with two goals from Mucado and Azerbaijani international Serjão, a 2010 bronze-medallist with Araz Naxçivan.




Courtesy: UEFA.com


Iberia, Marca, City'US, Ekonomac, Uragan progress

Iberia Star Tbilisi, Marca Futsal, City'US Târgu Mures, KMF Ekonomac Kragujevac and Uragan Ivano-Frankovsk moved through from the main round and Slov-Matic Bratislava are well placed.

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Iberia Star Tbilisi, Marca Futsal, City'US Târgu Mureş, KMF Ekonomac Kragujevac and Uragan Ivano-Frankovsk all earned UEFA Futsal Cup elite round places with a match to spare on Wednesday night and Slov-Matic Bratislava are well placed to join them.

In the three main round mini-tournament that began on Tuesday, only in Group 3 are both qualifiers not already decided. Hosts Iberia are definitely in the 11 October elite round draw after an 11-0 defeat of FC Geneva moved them on to six points. Giorgi Altunashvili scored a first-half hat-trick, Bruno Melo added three of his own after the break and 17-year-old Vakhtang Jvarashvili struck twice late on. The crowd of 4,500 broke the main round record that was set in Tbilisi yesterday.

Meanwhile Bratislava – held 5-5 by Geneva yesterday – ended FC Mapid Minsk's hopes 2-1, the Belarusian side leading at half-time through Aleksandr Olshevski but Martin Rejžek and Peter Kozar turning the game after the break. Bratislava are three points ahead of Geneva, who must beat Mapid on Friday, hope Slov-Matic lose to Iberia and overturn a current relative goal difference deficit of 12.

Group 5 and 6, meanwhile, are already decided save for which of the qualifiers will finish first. Italian debutants Marca Futsal secured a second Group 5 win in Romania as they overcame MNK Split 4-1, including a goal from Edgar Bertoni, a past competition runner-up with Interviú Madrid in 2007, and one at each end by Croatian international Dario Marinović. And Marca were joined on six points by hosts City'US Târgu Mureş, 7-1 winners against FS Ilves Tampere aided by a Florin Ignat hat-trick, goals from Florin and Marius Matei and a late strike by keeper Carlão. That last-minute effort means Târgu Mureş lead on goals scored so a draw against Marca on Friday would clinch first place and better elite round seeding.

Over in Serbia, hosts KMF Ekonomac Kragujevac and Ukrainian debutants Uragan Ivano-Frankovsk have progressed from Group 6. AC Omonia gave Uragan a tough challenge in losing 6-4 last night but today went down 5-1 to a Predrag Rajić-inspired Ekonomac. Urugan then beat Asa Ben Gurion 6-4, Valentyn Tsvelykh getting a first-half treble for the Ukrainian side and although the Israeli outfit did score three without reply after the break, they are out. Urugan must defeat Ekonomac on Friday to finish top.

Châtelineau Futsal and FK EP Chrudim have previously gone through from Group 4 to join the four teams seeded to November's elite round, holders ASD Città di Montesilvano C/5, Sporting Clube de Portugal, Kairat Almaty and Araz Naxçivan. The remaining two groups begin on Thursday with the side that beat Interviú in the 2007 final, MFK Dinamo Moskva, and first-time entrants FC Barcelona among those in action.




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