Courtesy: UEFA

Kairat and Dinamo bank on Brazil

Wednesday, 8 March 2006

FC Kairat Almaty and MFK Dinamo Moskva begin their play-off on Thursday for a place in the UEFA Futsal Cup final with the two-legged contest possessing a pronounced South American accent.

Etienne prediction
"Dinamo, like us, have strong Brazilian players," said Kairat's Brazilian captain Etienne. "I foresee that the first match will be played in a very careful manner, as we will be looking to check each other out and will be waiting for our opponents to make mistakes. We have to do the best we can, this is the only scenario to beat this team."

Home hero
The fact that a team from Kazakhstan, which only joined UEFA in 2002, has reached the semi-final of a major European club competition has garnered plenty of attention in the former Soviet republic. And, despite the fact that five Brazilians are key to Kairat's chances, local favourite Yuri Butrin is the top scorer and the man the crowd will be looking to against 2004/05 runners-up Dinamo when the action starts at 13.30CET at the 4,000-seater Baluan Sholak Sport Palace in Almaty.

'Important players'
However, Butrin is not thinking of himself, but of the team as a whole. "It's heartening that everyone on the team is in optimal form," he said. "One of our important players, Vaginho, has just recovered from injury. This match will be a major event for all us. We are hoping to get a positive result at home." Kairat are well aware of the test they will face when they make the return trip to the Russian capital on 24 March.

European focus
While the Kazakh club are dominating their domestic league, there is little concern in the Dinamo camp over the fact that their lead at home over MFC Spartak-Shelkovo has been cut to only one point, as the Russian giants are well aware of the need to focus for now on the battle against Kairat. After losing narrowly to Action 21 Charleroi in last year's final, Dinamo are determined to go one better this season.

Serious ambition
"This year we are taking it very seriously, we really want to go all the way and win it," said Joan, Russia's best player in 2005. "We have a good chance to get to the final, and we want to make up for our defeat last year." To complicate matters, he and Sergei Malyshev missed the recent domestic double-header against TTG-Java Yagorsk because of injury, as Dinamo lost 2-1 and won 5-3. In the first of those fixtures, Cirilo scored Dinamo's 100th goal in the league this season.

Coach cautious
Dinamo coach Viktor Papaev has struck a cautious tone, although he has every faith in his players. "It may sound humdrum, yet both clubs have chances to progress," he said. "We don't underestimate our opponents and we don't overestimate ourselves either. The fact that we played in the final last year doesn't mean much - you don't get to semi-final by luck alone. Kairat are playing at serious level, so we just have to wait and prepare. The first game will show what kind of chance we have."



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