Courtesy: UEFA.com


Sporting squeeze through to finals

Sporting Clube de Portugal reached their second straight UEFA Futsal Cup finals, but the Group C hosts had to work hard to earn a 5-5 draw against Iberia Star Tbilisi in their last game.

Saturday 19 November 2011

Sporting Clube de Portugal are through to their second straight UEFA Futsal Cup finals after making sure of first place as elite round Group C hosts with a dramatic 5-5 draw against Iberia Star Tbilisi.

City'US Târgu Mureş's 8-3 win against Győri ETO FC in the early game eased Sporting's nerves, as it meant the Hungarian side could not deny them or Iberia top spot. But the tension was soon skyrocketing at the Pavilhão Multiusos Odivelas, with Iberia, aiming to reach their first finals having been the only team in all 11 European seasons, taking a 3-0 half-time lead through strikes from Bruno Melo and Luiz Baptista followed by a João Matos own goal.

Normal service was resumed after the break, though. Marcelinho scored within 42 seconds of the restart, and while Luiz Baptista replied for Iberia, Déo struck twice either side of an Alex effort to make it 4-4. Daniel Sakai restored Iberia's advantage with four minutes to go, but Leitão made it 5-5 to ensure that the group was settled without recourse to goal difference.

"We felt that we deserved to progress as we were the better team," said Sporting coach Orlando Duarte. "Iberia tried to defend their lead, but we would have won the match by a good distance had we not made so many mistakes in attack. I have to salute the teams who played here and also this fantastic crowd; they were wonderful."

Earlier, a skilful Târgu Mureş forged a 3-0 half-time lead against Győr, and while the Hungarian side reduced the arrears to 3-2 after the break, they wilted in the closing stages, Csoma Alpar their tormentor-in-chief with three goals. The Romanian side might have feared the worst when Murilo Filho was sent off on 29 minutes, but Győr captain Ioan Al-Ioani was dismissed three minutes later.

In the finals in late April, to be hosted by one of the four contenders, Sporting will meet three sides to be decided when the remaining groups conclude on Sunday.




Courtesy: UEFA.com


Dinamo, Marca and Barcelona qualify

MFK Dinamo Moskva, FC Barcelona and Marca Futsal have completed the finals lineup, the latter progressing at the expense of holders ASD Città di Montesilvano C/5.

Sunday 20 November 2011

Former winners MFK Dinamo Moskva are through to the UEFA Futsal Cup finals along with European debutants FC Barcelona and Marca Futsal as all three sides drew their elite round deciders 2-2 to complete the lineup.

Sporting Clube de Portugal took their place on Saturday and today the other three elite round hosts also topped their groups, with Marca progressing at the expense of fellow Italian outfit and competition holders ASD Città di Montesilvano C/5. Dinamo held off Kairat Almaty on goal difference thanks to a late equaliser and Barcelona withstood an Araz Naxçivan comeback. The finals will be held in late April and are set to be hosted by one of the four qualifiers.

Marca ended Montesilvano's reign as Italian champions last season, beating them in both league games as well as the Super Cup, and they continued that trend by protecting their two-point Group D advantage. Marca struck first through Wellington Coco in the seventh minute after Fernando Wilhelm had stolen the ball, before Rogerio Da Silva swiftly equalised following Marcio Forte's corner.

Jonas Pinto restored Marca's advantage from a Carlos Chilavert corner just over eight minutes into the second half – becoming the elite round top scorer on five goals in the process – and although Fabricio Calderolli then made it 2-2, Montesilvano could not find a winner.

If anything, Marca came closest to victory as Adriano Foglia, who left the defending champions in the summer, hit a post with the goal unguarded towards the end. In the early game in the same section, Ukraine's Uragan Ivano-Frankovsk overcame Slov-Matic Bratislava 4-3 to finish third.

Dinamo, the 2007 winners, took an early lead against Kairat in Group A through Fernandinho, holding it until the break as Leo hit the woodwork for Kairat with a double penalty. However, Kairat drew level through Fumasa not long after the break and, after Dinamo's Pula was dismissed, last season's bronze-medallists moved ahead with little over two minutes remaining when Leo struck the bar and Alexandre Moraes turned in the rebound.

That meant Kairat were in the finals, but they were there for barely 70 seconds as, with just half a minute left on the clock, Cirilo found the target for the 33rd time in 34 UEFA Futsal Cup appearances to send the home fans in the capacity 4,500 crowd, one of the ten biggest in competition history, into raptures. Earlier, two late Slobodan Rajčević goals had ensured KMF Ekonomac Kragujevac beat Châtelineau 4-2 for third place.

In Group B, lastly, hosts Barcelona knew that a point against 2010 semi-finalists Araz would take them to the finals in their debut campaign. Wilde opened the scoring for the Spanish outfit on ten minutes and Sergio Lozano added another with a quarter of an hour gone, but Rajab Farajzade pulled one back before half-time to give Araz hope.

Amadeu then equalised with just over four minutes remaining, yet Barcelona held on and will be looking to become the fourth different Spanish winners of the trophy. An Araz win would have been enough as FK EP Chrudim lost 3-0 to Futsal Club Eindhoven, the preliminary round qualifiers ending their impressive campign on a high.




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