Courtesy: UEFA


Kairat eager for more than pride

Friday, 24 March 2006

Kairat Almaty may be 3-0 down for their Friday-night trip to MFK Dinamo Moskva in the UEFA Futsal Cup semi-finals, but they are confident of getting at least a positive result in the return.

Missed chances
In the home first leg on 9 March, Kairat had much of the play but were punished for missed chances and strong counterattacking by their more experienced opponents. Dinamo are firmly in pole position for next month's final against either Boomerang Interviú or FC Shakhtar Donetsk, who play their return match on Saturday. However, the Kazakhstani champions and coach Paulo Augusto are confident they can at least give Dinamo a scare or two when they travel to Moscow's Druzhba sports centre.

'Constant pressure'
"We have been practising how to overcome Dinamo's pressing game," the 39-year-old Brazilian said. "We will be trying to shoot more and be more clinical with our chances." Kairat have no injury worries but the coach is concerned he does not have the strength in depth of his Russian rivals. "We have just ten players, and it is hard to handle the constant pressure from Dinamo," he said. "I can only guarantee that we will be faithful to our style and do our best to get a positive result."

Domestic form
Even if they bow out at the semi-final stage, Kairat are on track to be in Europe's premier club competition next season. They hold a nine-point advantage at the top of their Premier League, despite having played two fewer games than their nearest challengers. Dinamo are also going well in their domestic tournament, with a seven-point lead, although they have two fewer matches remaining than the chasing pack.

Fully focused
The Russian title-holders are still without Joan, the country's reigning player of the year, but are focused on finishing the job in front of a capacity home crowd. Coach Aleksandr Shibaev said: "We have watched the first game again. There were lots of chances missed by both teams. Since then, we've played two good matches against [domestic rivals] Norilsky Nickel and in the first of them, we looked very good defensively. I think it was our best showing of the season so far. We're optimistic about the future."

Eremenko speaks
Dinamo president Konstantin Eremenko, one of Futsal's greatest-ever players and a star of the 1999 UEFA European Futsal Championship, underlined his club's intentions this season after finishing runners-up last time. "We hope to get to the final, and I think we're in a position where we have what it takes," he said. "This wasn't an easy year for us, we had various problems, but I think it was a good test of character. We're just four years old and, if in the past a lot was achieved through youthful exuberance, now we're maturing."



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