Courtesy: UEFA.com

Joy for Armenia and Albania

Tuesday, 13 September 2005

by Paul Saffer

from Crystal Palace National Sports Arena

Tal Grig Yerevan and Dinamo Tirana have made it through the UEFA Futsal Cup preliminary round after another dramatic day of action in England that saw mini-tournament hosts London White Bear FC eliminated by the smallest of margins.

London out
Yerevan were beaten 2-1 tonight by mini-tournament hosts London but the home side were eliminated by virtue of a three-way head-to-head goals scored tie-breaker with their opponents and Tirana. All three sides finished on six points but Armenian side Yerevan and Albanian entrants Tirana take first and second spot respectively. French debutants Roubaix Futsal finished bottom of the group after their 5-1 defeat by Tirana in the day's first game.

Mullaj strikes
Roubaix needed an improbable 12-goal win to have any hope of taking a top-two place on their competition debut, but although they had much of the possession against Tirana, but they were 2-0 down within five minutes as Ani Mullaj struck his fifth goal of the round and Gerdi Spahiu added another. In between Mehdi Rokia hit the post for Roubaix. The French side pushed hard, but before the break Mullaj scorted on the break.

Deserved consolation
Artan Qopekaj made it 4-0 on the half-hour and Indrin Llagami hit Tirana's fifth five minutes later, after which David Vieira claimed a deserved consolation for Roubaix. That result meant London realistically needed a two-goal win to go through.

Quickfire Danielyan
However, it took only ten seconds for Armen Danielyan to give Yerevan the lead. The goal, though, did not dishearten London who now made the play for the remaining 39 minutes and 50 seconds, perhaps helped by the fact that Yerevan's prolific striker Armen Gyulambaryan was still suffering the effects of his knee injury on Matchday 1, his coach Ruben Nazaretyan telling uefa.com that the forward was "not 100 per cent".

Home heartbreak
There was frustration after frustration for the hosts as Artak Harutyunyan in the Yerevan goal seemed unbeatable. Five minutes into the second half his goal was finally breahed, Anatoliy Sigur striking. Soon after London's key man Alexandre Topalo had an effort ruled out as the ball had left play earlier in the move and Ruslan Lipskiy hit the post. With four minutes left Topalo gave London a deserved lead, which they held to the end, only to learn that their victory would not keep their first European campaign going.

'Dramatic games'
Nazaretyan said: "We have won beautiful dramatic games, it will help us in our Armenian competition too. Tirana were maybe the best team."

Tirana improvement
Tirana team manager Lysien Nurishmi said: "This is the second time we have particiapated in the UEFA Futsal Cup, we wanted to qualify. We now have much more experience."

Benfica waiting
Yerevan now enter Group 3 of next month's first qualifying round, and will face the might of 2004 finalists SL Benfica along with Cyprus's AGBU Ararat Nicosia and mini-tournament hosts Colorspectrum Aramis Budapest of Hungary. Tirana will play in Group 4, staged by Slovenia's KMN Svea Lesna Litija and also featuring KMF Marbo Beograd and Athena '90 of Serbia and Montenegro and Greece respectively.




Courtesy: UEFA.com


Yerevan to face former finalists

Wednesday, 14 September 2005

Tal Grig Yerevan and Dinamo Tirana completed the UEFA Futsal Cup first qualifying round lineup by winning through the preliminary round mini-tournament in London, to complete a fascinating series of groups to be played in October.

Yerevan's reward
Yerevan's reward for winning the opening pool is a place in Group 4, staged by Hungary's Colorspectrum Aramis Budapest and containing ABGU Ararat Nicosia of Cyprus and the 2003/04 finalists SL Benfica. Tirana are in Group 5 against home team KMN Svea Lesna Litija of Slovenia, who reached the last eight in 2004/05, KMN Marbo Beograd and Athina '90 of Greece.

Final rematch?
Holders Action 21 Charleroi are in Poland for their pool against hosts Clearex Chorzow, Iberia 2003 Tbilisi and Lithuania's FK Nautara Kaunas, and if they win the group the second qualifying round will leave them playing, among others, the Group 2 winners - which could be the team beaten by Charleroi in last season's thrilling final, MFK Dinamo Moskva.

Boomerang challenge
Benfica, meanwhile, would face a rematch of the 2004 final should they top their pool and Spanish champions Boomerang Interviú FS win Group 7. It will not be easy for Boomerang, though, as Erregi Travel Perugia are the hosts, with Moldova's FC Camelot Chisinau and Alfa Parf Skopje also involved.

Route to final
Once the eight group winners are determined, they will have until March to prepare for the second qualifying round, also played as mini-tournaments with the hosts to be chosed from among the competing clubs. Unlike in previous years, the runners-up will progress from this round as will as the winners to a new two-legged semi-final stage.



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com