Courtesy Uefa.com

Romanians on a high

Romania have completed the lineup for the qualifying round of the 2005 UEFA European Futsal Championship.

Pole position

The Romanians finished first in the Group A mini-tournament to join the 27 other teams who will battle it out for a place in the finals, to be held in the Czech Republic early next year. Romania were up against Armenia, Kazakhstan and mini-tournament hosts Bulgaria but clinched top spot with two wins and a draw.

Sofroniev dismissed
Romania started emphatically with a 12-0 victory against the Bulgarians, having led 4-0 at half-time after first-half doubles from Robert Lupu and Alpar Csoma. Bulgaria missed good chances to register through Daniel Nestorov and Mario Mikhalkov and to make matters worse for the hosts in Varna they had Yavor Sofroniev dismissed three minutes from the end.

Delayed game

Romania had a chance to make it two wins from two when they took on Armenia in the next scheduled fixture. However, they had to settle for a 3-3 draw having trailed 2-0 and 3-1 before Endre Kacso salvaged a point five minutes from time.

Late drama

Kazakhstan then started their campaign with a thrilling 6-5 victory against Bulgaria, ultimately thanks to Alexandr Bondarev’s winning goal in the 39th minute. The home team had put up a strong display especially given that they were two behind inside two minutes after Alibek Karimov's two goals. Marian Dochev and Daniel Nestorov both found the net twice but the Kazakhs held firm. They even had Saken Kenetaev sent off late in the game for a second yellow card.

Points shared

The Kazakhs were pegged back, however, in their rearranged fixture against Armenia. Despite twice taking the lead through Ramil Yussupov and Erian Ershanov, they had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Tigran Petrosyan’s 33rd-minute strike forcing a share of the spoils.

Lupu double

Both Kazakhstan and Romania had four points going into their meeting, which meant either side would be guaranteed top spot if they could win. It seemed a close contest would be likely but the Romanians ran out 5-1 winners. The first half was fairly tight but Robert Matei’s 26th-minute effort followed by Lupu’s double put paid to Kazakh hopes and took the Romanians through.

Too late

Because of this result, Armenia went into the final fixture knowing that victory against Bulgaria would not be enough. However, they finished on a high with a 4-2 victory. Romania’s first-place finish means they will now be involved in the Group 2 mini-tournament in the first qualifying round alongside Ukraine, Belarus and Slovakia.