UEFA.comLozano pleased and proudSunday, 20 February 2005 Spain coach Javier Lozano paid tribute to Russia in celebrating his side's 2-1 success in the 2005 UEFA European Futsal Championship final and joined his counterpart Oleg Ivanov in looking to the future.
Javier Lozano, Spain coachI want to mention one player, Pipe, who is not here from the world championships [in November] because of injury. This success is dedicated to him. Talking about today’s match, it was a great game. You don't just have to play these games, you have to win. We were up against a team of the future, a young team with tremendous technical skill. We have to congratulate them. We have been in a match today right up until the last few seconds.
[On the future] Little by little, we will begin rebuilding the team. We will start in April with our next matches because many of the players will not make it to the 2007 European Championship.
Andreu, Spain goalscorerI am very happy to have scored such an important goal. But it makes me twice as happy to have scored a such goal in a match we have won.
Oleg Ivanov, Russia coachFirst of all I would like to congratulate Javier Lozano with the win and the European title. I would like to stress that it is pleasant for us to be among the leading teams in Europe. In this group, Spain and Italy have been dominating for the last few years. We knew the Spain team was very mobile and technically sound. They have had the same squad for a few years. We tried to neutralise Javi Rodríguez but the Spanish team was too strong for us. The first goal was a decisive moment.
Today, we not only tried to play on the counterattack but also to attack them. The main thing is we have many new players which don’t have enough international experience. In principle, I am pleased with the performance of my team. I have no complaints of anybody. Once again I congratulate Javier Lozano.
Mikhail Markin, Russia captainWe are sad that we could not win the last match but the silver medal is a great success for us. We were very pleased to participate in such an event.
UEFA.comFriends focus on positivesSunday, 20 February 2005 By Greg Demetriou in OstravaThe coaches of Italy and Ukraine were left to reflect on what might have been after a competitive third-place play-off that left both men satisfied with the efforts and commitment of their players.
Gennadiy Lysenchuk, Ukraine coachFirst of all I would like to congratulate my good friend Alessandro Nuccorini for the bronze medal. Speaking about our team, it is very difficult to give an assessment in a few words. As you see in our team there are many young players and we are going through a change in generation. To finish top of our group and and reach the last four was already a success for us. And in the last four, we gave a good fight but lost to the world champions and the European champions from two years ago, Italy.
Our younger players made mistakes in defence today but we have enjoyed a good tournament. I will admit it is very unfortunate to leave the Czech Republic without a medal. Especially as we have finished as runner-up in the last two championships. In two or three years we will again have a team that is fighting to be among the top two or three in the world. I am thankful to all my young players and along with my experienced first quartet, they played a good tournament. We had a difficult five games. If they continue like this, we will be back among the best again.
Alessandro Nuccorini, Italy coachI am obviously very satisfied with this result. Our players have been very good here. We would like to thank all the people that supported us here throughout this tournament and the other teams. But this final result is not a consolation for us although I believe our squad did their best in all the matches. It is a very competitive event and we saw the same with Ukraine. It is very good to see two teams that want to win. Gennadiy Lysenchuk is among my very good friends. We lost against them four years ago in Russia and then beat them in the final two years ago. There is quite a history but our friendship will always be strong.
