Courtesy Uefa.com

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Late drama sends Cyprus through

Thursday, 08 January 2004

Cyprus have earned a place in the qualifying round of
the UEFA European Futsal Championship after an
excellent performance in the Group B mini-tournament.

Poliviou the hero

The Cypriots were up against hosts Albania and England
in the round-robin event held at the Flamurtari Hall
in Vlore. The decisive result came in the last fixture
between Cyprus and Albania when a Costas Poliviou goal
for the visiting side earned them a 1-1 draw and
progression by virtue of a better goal difference.

Hopes shattered

The Albanians had started brightly, earning an 8-6
victory against England. Ani Mullaj led the way with a
hat-trick but it was late strikes from Gerdi Spahiu
and two-goal Armant Damo that ultimately put paid to
English hopes. Debutants England had performed well in
their first competitive national-team fixture with
Louis Axcell scoring a hat-trick.

Cyprus in charge
England were to be denied in their second fixture as
well. They lost 8-4 to Cyprus, goals from Ben Walker
and Dan Wood in the last five minutes giving the
scoreline some respectability. The Cypriots were in
charge from the first minute when Marios Lambrou
converted and, with Poliviou scoring twice, were never
in danger of defeat.

Dell upbeat

That meant England were definitely unable to top the
group, a disappointing end to their first campaign.
However, manager Graeme Dell was not too downhearted.
"I am very confident that England could have a great
future in this game," he said. "In fairness, we didn't
expect to qualify but what was important was that we
took part."

Late drama

Albania and Cyprus were both confident they could
secure victory in their decisive meeting, with the
former to be urged on by thousands of supporters. It
was an extremely close contest but Mullaj gave the
fans plenty to cheer in the 30th minute with the
opening goal. As time wore on, it looked as if the
Albanians were going to make it through only for
Poliviou's late intervention.

Next stage

Cyprus will now go into Group 3 in the qualifying
round starting later this month. The mini-tournament
will be held in Andorra, with the hosts joined by
Portugal and Moldova. The finals will be held in the
Czech Republic in February 2005.

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