Courtesy: UEFA.com


Romania first through thanks to Czech success

Thursday 2 February 2012

Florin Ignat and Florin Matei struck in the last seven minutes as Romania recovered from a goal down to reach the quarter-finals.

Romania 3-1 Czech Republic

by Wayne Harrison from Spaladium Arena

Romania are the first team into the UEFA Futsal EURO 2012 quarter-finals after late strikes from Florin Ignat and Florin Matei gave them the margin of victory they needed against the Czech Republic.

Group A had begun with Romania losing 2-1 to Croatia and Sito Rivera's charges were behind early on when Michal Belej scored for the 2010 bronze-medallists. But Gabriel Dobre rifled in a 17th-minute equaliser and the two second-half efforts mean the Czechs must beat Croatia by two on Saturday to pip the hosts.

When these sides met in qualifying, Romania won 1-0, and the opening exchanges suggested another tight encounter was in store. For Romania the start was understandable – they knew they could not afford to lose – but that looked a distinct possibility when Belej exchanged passes with Jiri Novotny for a simple finish.

Rivera's team had no choice but to go for it and after Vlad Iancu saved from Robert Lupu and Matei, Dobre levelled in thunderous fashion. Lupu chipped the ball down the Czech right and Dobre, with little space, unleashed a half-volley past Libor Gercak

Both sides were quickly on to the front foot after the break, with Gercak and Vlad Iancu having their palms warmed. Romania, as they had been before the interval, appeared that bit slicker on the break; Marian Șotarca would have had the goal at his mercy had the sliding Novotny not taken the ball of his toes. The Czechs soon responded, though, with Belej twice thwarted in a matter of moments.

When the Czech Republic countered again Dobre received a booking which rules him out of the quarter-final. His disappointment was soothed by Ignat's header, from Cosmin Gherman's cross, and Matei's strong run and shot. Romania must wait to discover their venue and opposition for Monday's last-eight game but that will not concern them right now.



Courtesy: UEFA.com


Ukraine through with Spain after ousting Slovenia

Ukraine ensured that they and Spain will go through from Group B after Valeriy Legchanov's hat-trick ended Slovenia's hopes.

Thursday 2 February 2012

Slovenia 3-6 Ukraine

by Paul Saffer from Arena Zagreb

Ukraine ensured that they and Spain will go through to the UEFA Futsal EURO 2012 quarter-finals from Group B after ending Slovenia's hopes.

Slovenia lost 4-2 to Spain on Tuesday and needed a point here to remain in contention. However, they were three down within ten minutes and Valeriy Legchanov later completed a hat-trick as well as scoring an own goal. Ukraine lead Saturday opponents Spain on goal difference and a draw would ensure they remain in Zagreb for Monday's last-eight match rather than travelling to Split.

From the start Ukraine looked sharp on the counter, with Legchanov, Dmitriy Klochko and Serhiy Zhurba all going close. On five minutes the breakthrough did come, Klochko breaking down the left and slipping his shot under Aljosa Mohoric. It was soon 2-0, Legchanov combining with Maxym Pavlenko before a smart turn and strike. It then got worse for Slovenia as Zhurba intercepted a kick-in, sprinted upfield and finished powerfully.

The large Slovenian contingent in the stands were deflated, their team more vulnerable to quick breaks than Spain's possession game. Klochko did deny Primoz Zorc with a last-gasp interception but, at the other end, Serhiy Cheporniuk hit the post and not long after played in Pavlenko to make it 4-0 in another fine passing move.

Legchanov got the fifth just 46 seconds after the interval, pouncing on a loose pass and shooting in via the far post. Slovenia then had one back as Rok Mordej's shot hit a post and then Ukraine keeper Yevhen Ivanyak, Legchanov inadvertently volleying in the deflection.

It took Legchanov two minutes to make amends, completing his hat-trick with a low free-kick from just inside the Slovenia half. Rajko Uršiè pulled one back with an angled shot from near the sideline, giving Ivanyak no chance, and Kristjan Cujec curled in a deflected effort but it was too late for Slovenia.



Courtesy: UEFA.com


Rivera rejoices at composed Romania

Sito Rivera praised his Romania team for "playing with our heads" after they followed up their opening loss by beating the Czech Republic 3-1 to become the first quarter-finalists.

Thursday 2 February 2012

by Wayne Harrison from Spaladium Arena

Sito Rivera, Romania coach
Today we played with our heads − that was our goal after the first game. We turned it around from 1-0 down, we tried to fight. We count on 14 players for this reason [Gabriel Dobre being suspended for the quarter-finals]. If we can't play Dobre, somebody else does [his job] instead.

In the first game we lost possession a lot, Croatia played and defended well. It's not normal to lose the ball this much because we have players capable of passing. When we played five against four [with a flying goalkeeper] against Croatia we were bad but against Brazil, Portugal and Spain we've been very good. Today when we went 1-0 down we played with our heads − this was key.

Qualification is down to the players. We played well in the Word Cup [main round] in Italy and now this is the result of our hard work. It's very important to finish the group in first place because if we come second we could play Spain, but it isn't down to us now.

Tomas Neumann, Czech Republic coach
I don't know [what went wrong, having taken the lead]. We prepared very well for the match but we don't seem able to play against Romania − we haven't beaten them in ten games now. We had a lot of chances but came up short, it's horrible.

[We didn't try the flying goalkeeper tactic] because we still have one match to play. Playing this way is very risky. When we were losing by one goal I tried to play properly but Romania scored and we lost by two. At that moment I started preparing for the next match because we would have been finished if the margin had been three.



Courtesy: UEFA.com


Lysenchuk likes look of Ukraine display

Gennadiy Lysenchuk was in good spirits after his Ukraine side booked a quarter-final spot with a 6-3 win that eliminated Slovenia, who conceded that they had been outclassed.

Friday 3 February 2012

by Paul Saffer, Gonzalo Aguado & Rok Sinkovc from Arena Zagreb

Gennadiy Lysenchuk, Ukraine coach
I am in good spirits because we played very well against very tough opponents. It may seem a very easy win but we prepared very hard for this. We had looked at Slovenia's previous matches, we had seen their good and bad points. There were some beautiful goals scored by our players, and the last two goals we conceded went right in the corner. I think the spectators saw a very good game with a lot of goals.

We are now in the quarter-finals, and against Spain [competing for Group B top spot on Saturday] we will do our best. We know it is very difficult but I hope two days from now I will be in a good mood again. I would like to thank the players for playing very well to get this victory.

Dmitriy Klochko, Ukraine goalscorer
First of all it was our first match, so the most important thing was to win. Slovenia are very strong, but all our players put on a great performance. Spain are excellent, they have one of the best squads in the world and we will try to do our best. After the match against Slovenia we will watch our mistakes on video and try to correct them before the match against Spain.

Yevhen Ivanyak, Ukraine goalkeeper
First of all I would like to thank our fans here today. We made some mistakes, but we would like to do our best in the next game. Spain are the best team in Europe and I would like to see a close match against them. We need to be very focused on the match and have good physical preparation. And of course, we need to be lucky. A draw against Spain is enough for us, but we will only play to win.

Andrej Dobovicnik, Slovenia coach
We were surprised by Ukraine's fast attacks and goals. There was no stability in our back line, we did not concentrate enough and Ukraine know full well how to punish these mistakes. The first half was almost a disaster. Unfortunately these were our worst minutes of the tournament. And then it is very hard to catch a team who are physically so strong and quick on the counterattack. But we knew this. Perhaps the 6-3 scoreline shows a real difference in quality today, but if we played them again the margin would definitely be smaller.

Rok Mordej, Slovenia player
Simply put, Ukraine showed that they are better. We could have won only if they had a really bad day, but unfortunately they were excellent. Especially on the counterattack they were dangerous and effective. You can see the big difference between [Slovenia's] amateurism and [Ukraine's] professionalism. They do more training sessions per week than we do in a month. Somewhere this has to be seen.

We had a really tough group. Despite two defeats, I hope that we did not disappoint our fans who have encouraged us by coming here from Slovenia. But that's the way it is. Now we need some rest and then we will fight to reach the World Cup, where two very tough [play-off] matches await us in March.

Rajko Ursic, Slovenia goalscorer
Of course we are disappointed. We conceded a couple of goals too quickly. Ukraine did not allow us to play and they were just waiting for our mistakes. We also hoped to have some luck which unfortunately we did not have. We were more focused and relaxed in the first match against Spain, because we knew that for us this was the decisive match. Against Ukraine unfortunately we lost this concentration and our effective way of playing. A big thanks, all the same, to the fans that came, even if they did see two defeats.




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