Courtesy: UEFA.com

Futsal finalists in fine form

Friday, 23 April 2004

By Andy Hall and Rui Matos Pereira

Even the experienced hands of Boomerang Interviú FS and SL Benfica will be excused some nerves on Saturday afternoon when they each make their bows in the UEFA Futsal Cup final.

New finalists

The previous two finals have seen Boomerang's Spanish rivals Playas de Castellón FS overcoming Belgium's Action 21 Charleroi. But each of those sides were narrowly eliminated by this year's leading contenders, who meet over the next two Saturdays, the first leg on the outskirts of Madrid at Boomerang's Pabellón Municipal Parque Corredor.

Fine form

Boomerang have been on fine form in recent weeks, and indeed only on Tuesday night did they clinch first place in the División de Honor, Spain's domestic league. This will give them the advantage in the forthcoming play-offs through which they will aim for a hat-trick of titles, and they showed their prowess on 10 April with a 4-3 win against Castellón.

Dramatic win

A last-minute equaliser had seen Boomerang through in the two side's crucial second qualifying round encounter, and there was late drama in their domestic meeting. Castellón led 3-2 midway through the second half, but Flavio Sergio Viana 'Schumacher' headed an equaliser and the same player scored a superb winner from a tight angle in the final seconds.

Goalscoring form

Since then they have beaten Polaris World Cartagena FS 5-0 and their fellow Pabellón residents Look and Find Carnicer FS 6-5. That is the sort of winning form they will need to build a lead against Benfica on Saturday ahead of the 1 May return in Lisbon. A side like Boomerang, who managed 38 goals in thjeir three first qualifying round games, are well capable of doing just that.

Benfica dream

Benfica, though, are keen to mark the centenary of the sporting club with a European trophy. While Sporting Clube de Portugal may be leading the way domestically across the Iberian border from Spain, Alípio Matos's Benfica side have won all six of their European games this season, scoring 44 goals.

Warm-up game

They warmed-up for the final with a practice game against AMSAC, which Benifca won 8-5. Matos tried out different playing options, even giving the opposition a one-man advantage at one stage.

'We are ready'

Speaking to futsalportugal.com, Matos said: "We tried to consolidate some things that we have been practicing, with lots of different first teams. That is why we have chosen to play a practice game, in order to visualise certain things, like the players' form and their behaviour. We have had a full week of practice sessions. We are ready and now we will see how things will be there. We hope that we can produce a good performance and travel back with joy."

Full-strength squad

Matos has a full-strength side in Madrid, goalkeepers Zé Carlos, Élber and Bruno Tavares joined by outfield players Chico, Zé Maria, Rogério Vilela, Ricardinho, André Lima, Majó, Miguel Almeida, André, Arnaldo, Ruizinho, Pedro Costa and Lukaian.