Courtesy: UEFA.com

Rivals find reasons for optimism

Tuesday, 15 February 2005

Ukraine were delighted to find the winning habit at the 2005 UEFA European Futsal Championship while Russia also had cause to be cheerful unlike the Czechs and Dutch, who were downbeat despite plucky performances. uefa.com rounds-up the Group A reaction after the second day of action.

Czech Republic 1-3 Russia

We knew they would be very strong and we have to say they were better than us today. We are very sad - mainly because we couldn't give the crowd a better result after they turned up in larger numbers than yesterday. In the second half we did better and pushed them on the defensive. (Czech Republic coach Mihail Striz)

The whole team worked very hard today. It wasn't just about me. Yesterday's game was not great, we were not very used to the conditions but today we were ready. The Czechs gave a very good performance but we were able to play well. (Russian player Vladislav Shayakhmetov)

Ukraine 4-1 Netherlands

After yesterday's defeat we analysed our match. We learned a good lesson and we did not repeat our mistakes. This time we managed to take our chances. The Dutch team are very strong. They fought until the last moment and it was a very difficult game for our side right to the end. (Ukraine coach Gennadiy Lysenchuk)

I am surprised we did so well over the first two days. My players learned that they must have more patience, take more time. We have learned a lot. Sometimes taking the goalkeeper out works but it didn't this time. We tried to play with five outfield players at the end and we will see how we can improve on this in the future. (Netherlands coach Vic Hermans)