Courtesy: UEFA.com

Beograd in the goals

Friday, 28 October 2005

KMF Marbo Beograd stormed to victory in a high-scoring UEFA Futsal Cup first qualifying round Group 4 to book the last remaining place in the next stage. They now progress to a second qualifying round group containing last season's finalists Action 21 Charleroi and MFK Dinamo Moskva plus FC Shakhtar Donetsk to be played early in 2006.

Beograd stroll
Beograd's first game was against preliminary round runners-up Dinamo Tirana and by half-time it was 7-0 to the Serbo-Montenegrin champions, Predrag Rajic striking a hat-trick and Milan Bogdanovic, Zeljko Borojevic, Igor Šoša and Vladimir Popovic also on target. Zeljko Dragoljevic claimed the eighth in the 24th minute and there was still time for Popovic and Borojevic to take the tally to 10-0.

Athina win
Slovenian pool hosts KMN Svea Lesna Litija then were defeated 6-3 by Greek champions Athina '90 Athens. Charalampos Litos put Athina into a 13th-minute lead but by half-time it was 2-1 to Litija, Tomi Horvat and Dragan Mirkovic scoring. However, Demetris Mpismpikis equalised seconds into the next period, and Litos put Athina's nose in front on the half-hour. Horvat levelled two minutes later but Stefanos Michalis made it 4-3 to Athina and Litos then wrapped up his hat-trick with Ilias Bousmpouras confirming victory with a minute left.

More goals
A day later, though, Athina came unstuck in an 8-1 defeat by Beograd. Rajic took three minutes to give Beograd the lead and Zoran Dimic and Borojevic added goals before the break. Within two minutes of the restart, Šoša and Bojan Pavicevic had increased Beograd's advantage and Rajic struck again four minutes later. Bousmpouras swiftly pulled one back, but in the 32nd minute Rajic had his second hat-trick of the mini-tournament and Bogdanovic made it 8-1 with four minutes left.

Litija recover
Ani Mullaj put Tirana into a third-minute lead against Litija, but they were to lose 7-2. Mito Kos levelled in the sixth minute and two minutes later Horvat scored twice, with Gasper Vrhovec adding to the total just prior to half-time. Igor Osredkar and Mirjovic then increased the advantage further in the first five minutes of the second half, and although Arjan Nikolla pulled one back, Horvat had the last word, securing his treble two minutes from time.

Bousmpouras treble
Athina and Tirana were both out of contention when they played on Matchday 3, but their match produced yet more goals. Bousmpouras and Gentian Begac scored midway through the first half for Athina before an Apostolos Gaifilias own goal made it 2-1 at the break. Bousmpouras claimed another goal early in the second half and Georgios Kritsiopis joined him on the scoresheet. Armant Dama and Gerdi Spahiu gave Tirana hope, but with five minutes left Bousmpouras struck his third and Mpismpikis also scored. Nikolla reduced arrears for Tirana to 6-4 three minutes from the end of their competition debut.

Rajic feat
That result meant Litija needed a five-goal win against Beograd to deny their opponents first place. However, that was always a tall task and Rajic was on target two minutes in. Osredjar equalised in the 13th minute and Horvat then put Litija in front, but only for a few seconds due to another Rajic goal. Vrhovec gave Litija a 3-2 half-time lead, but within four minutes of the break Borojevic had levelled and Rajic had secured his third treble of the mini-tournament, ensuring a hat-trick had been scored in all six games. Borojevic was on target again on the half-hour, and although Osredkar claimed the 56th and final goal of the group in the 37th minute, his team lost 5-4 and finished third.



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