Courtesy: UEFA.com

Budapest bonanza for Hungary

Sunday, 01 February 2004

Hungary made the most of home advantage in UEFA European Futsal Championship Group 6 to qualify for the first time with three 4-2 victories.

Winning start

They made a fine start in Budapest by beating Latvia. János Madarász gave them an early lead and scored again to make it 4-0 after Gábor Somogyi and Zsolt Gyurcsányi had struck. Jurijs Idionovs pulled one back before the break but all Latvia could manage in the second half was an Aleksandrs Glazovs goal. Earlier, Croatia had drawn 1-1 with Greece. Demetris Arvanitis's 34th-minute goal for Greece was cancelled out three minutes later by Keven Drndic.

Croatia in contention

Croatia moved into contention in their next match with a 6-2 victory against Latvia. Olegs Matvejevs gave Latvia an early lead, but Robert Grdovic and Nikica Škerbic soon gave Croatia a lead, extended after the break by Mihails Lisjakovs's own goal. Aleksandrs Slepovs pulled one back, but Keven Drndic, Patrik Drndic and Ljubo Bonkovic soon sealed the game. Hungary remained two points clear, though, despite trailing 1-0 to Greece at the break as goals from Miklós Tóth, Tamás Lódi and two by Pál Baranyai secured their comeback.

Hungary secure

After Greece had claimed third place by drawing 2-2 with Latvia, Croatia met Hungary needing a win to deny the hosts a place in the Czech Republic. But Hungary stormed into a 4-0 lead at the break, with Somogyi, Szabolcs Tóth, Gábor Szalay and Balázs Simon putting the game beyond Croatia, who responded in the second half with two late consolation goals from Matija Dulvat.