Courtesy: FIFA


Excitement builds in Taipei as squads announced

(FIFA.com) 14 Nov 2004

When the squads are officially announced for any FIFA tournament, the excitement really starts to build. Just one week from the start of the FIFA Futsal World Championship Chinese Taipei 2004 we can announce the squads who will be playing for the title. Join FIFA.com for a closer look at the teams as the sixteen countries get set for action in the Far East.


Squad Lists for Chinese Taipei 2004 (.XLS)


Tournament second favourites Spain have suffered three major omissions from their squad which is looking to retain the title they won in Guatemala in 2000 - Daniel, Sergio and Cristian all miss the tournament. Coach Javier Lozano, in charge of the Spanish team since January 1992, can still call upon the Boomerang player Andreu who recently equalled Vicentin's record of 57 goals for the national team. Lozano feels his team are in with a chance although nine of the winning team have departed: "My current side may not be as compact as the one four years ago, and we have not yet reached the level of performance I am aiming for, but when this year's tournament kicks off, Spain will be ready."

Perhaps the biggest disruption comes in the Japanese camp where Takaaki Ichihara was forced out of the squad with an Achilles tendon injury. Ichihara was set to captain the side, so his absence is sure to be a big blow to the team. Coach Sergio Sapo has decided his place in the squad will be taken by Yusuke Komiyama.

Portugal have also had their preparations disrupted by injury. Major player Arnaldo was originally selected by coach Orlando Duarte in the travelling party, but snapped his knee ligaments while playing for his Spanish Division de Honor club MRA Gvtarra Xota. Duarte has replaced him with Freixeiro's flank Formiga. Costinha has also had to withdraw from the squad.

The Czech squad have also lost a star - Roman Mares will not be at the tournament. The team who face favourites Brazil plus Thailand and Australia in Group B will be relying on 30-year-old Daniel Rajnoch with 34 goals in 60 appearances.

For Chinese Taipei, hosting such a major tournament is sure to provide valuable experience for the home players. Group A will be tough for them - as they face current champions Spain, the powerful Ukraine side and Egypt. The 14 players who make up the squad for the three group games in the 5,000 capacity National Taiwan University Gymnasium will be drawn from four teams - Tatung, Ming Chung University, Chiggia and Bei Tou. For goals the host's coach Damien Knabben will be looking to Tai Lin Tseng who has 10 goals in 25 appearances and Chi Cheng Wang with 12 goals in 35 caps.

Brazil's national coach Fernando Coelho 'Ferretti' has only one objective in Chinese Taipei - to regain the title the South Americans relinquished in a memorable final against Spain (4-3) in December 2000. The coach, who four years ago managed hosts the Guatemala when they lost 29-2 to Brazil in a group game, includes in his squad Falcao, according to many experts the best futsal player in the world and Manoel Tobias - twice a World Championship winner, leading marksman at the tournaments in 1996 (14 goals) and 2000 (19 goals) and scorer of 278 international goals.

An illustration of the growth of futsal is that twice the number of countries entered the qualifying tournament for 2004 as did in 1996. And those countries are getting closer - don't forget that a warm-up tournament staged recently in Iran was won by the hosts in the face of competition from Brazil and Ukraine. So now we're down to just sixteen teams - make sure you follow all the action on FIFA.com, the tournament's official website. Here are the squads - let the tournament begin.