Courtesy: UEFA

Shakhtar take their place

Thursday, 7 October 2004

FC Shakhtar Donetsk made the most of their UEFA Futsal Cup experience as victories against tournament debutants Varpex FC Csömör and FC MAG Varna took them through to the second qualifying round as Group 8 winners.

Three-team pool

In a pool reduced to three teams as the Israeli championship play-offs were not completed and no club from that nation was entered, a Shakhtar side with several survivors from the squad that progressed past this stage in 2002/03 began with a 6-0 win against preliminary round victors Varna. Ramis Mansurov opened the scoring on four minutes and claimed another later in the first half soon after Maxym Moskalyuk had made it 2-0. Igor Moskvychov increased the lead before the break and Sergiy Zadorozhniy and Maxym Pavlenko added more goals late on.

Csömör on top

Hungarian group hosts Csömör went one better the next day as they defeated Varna 7-0. Attila Lichtenberger scored twice in the first two minutes against the Bulgarian contenders and László Zsamar struck just prior to the break. Karoly Kovacsics made it 4-0 early in the second half before Zsamar and Balazs Kilik struck, and after Varna's Yavor Sofroniev was shown the red card, Kovacsics again scored to leave Csömör needing only a draw against Shakhtar in the deciding game to progress on goal difference.

Shakhtar through

However, Shakhtar cruised into a 4-0 lead at half-time in that encounter and ended up with a 6-1 victory. Mansurov again claimed two first period goals, with Fedir Pylypiv and Moskalyuk also on target before the interval, and Olexandr Kosenko and Igor Moskvychov scored early in the second half before Csaba Takó's late consolation for Csömör. Shakhtar meet MFSC Kairat Almaty, El Pozo Murcia FS and MFC Dinamo Mosvka in the next stage in March.