Courtesy: UEFA.com

Futsal four grab Main chance

Saturday, 16 September 2006

The four UEFA Futsal Cup preliminary round groups producted a total of well over 150 goals, as FC Adana Yerevan, Toligma Chisinau, Skövde AIK and FK Nafta Mazeikiai made their way into next month's Main round.

Perfect start
Austria, Germany, Malta, Scotland, Switzerland and Sweden were represented for the first time in a record entry of 40 clubs, necessitating a change of format and a rise in the number of opening-stage groups from one to four. And the Swedish side, Skövde, were the first to progress, clunching Group C in Bulgaria with a game to spare and ending with a 100 per cent record.

Dramatic finishes
That was matched in Group B by competition debutants Toligma of Moldova, who pipped Andorran hosts Granvalira FC Encamp 3-2 today after both went into the game with maximum points. The other Saturday qualifiers were Armeni's Adana who defeated France's Roubaix Futsal 7-4 to move on to seven points, and then saw their place sealed when Finland's Futsal Mad Max were held 5-5 by Scottish home team Fair City Santos. Nafta from Lithuania were the only hosts to go through, and needed a late equaliser in their decider against Parnassos Nicosia of Cyprus to gain the point they required.

October fixtures
Skövde, Adana, Nafta and Toligma now fill the vacant slots in Groups 2,3,4 and 5 respectively, and they like the 20 other Main round contenders will be in action in mini-tournament in mid-October. This time two teams will advance from each group to join holders Boomerang Interviú and fellow seeds MFK Dinamo Moskva, Action 21 Charleroi and El Pozo Murcia FS in the Elite round draw on 31 October.




Courtesy: UEFA.com

Adana prove their worth

Saturday, 16 September 2006

FC Adana Yerevan are through to the UEFA Futsal Cup Main round on their competition debut in a high-scoring mini-tournament in Scotland.

Kapukranyan hat-trick
Adana started preliminary round Group 1 against home team Fair City Santos, the first Scottish club to enter this tournament. Grigor Kapukranyan and Ruben Yerznkyan made it 2-0 to Adana at half-time, but in the first five minutes of the second half Ross Gunnion and Mark Gordon levelled the scores. Another Kapukranyan goal was cancelled out by Gordon, but when the Adana man completed his hat-trick there was no answer and Armen Sanamyan made it 5-3 late on. Finland's Futsal Mad Max, also on a European bow, then defeated French champions Roubaix Futsal 3-1; Jussi Saarinen opened the scoring before Ibrahim Saidi's 23rd-minute equaliser, Joni Niskavaara immediately converted a penalty then added another goal.

Goals rain in
There was little time to breath the next day as Santos took on Roubaix. The French side conceded first but led 4-1 on 14 minutes only for Santos to pull back to 7-7 midway through the second half. Gordon then added his second of the game to make it 8-7, but five unanswered Roubaix goals gave them a 12-8 win as Pierre Scurbecq and Mahmoud Sali both claimed hat-tricks. After that, the 3-3 draw against Adana and Mad Max was relatively mundane, Mahmoud Sali scored first for Adana but Joni Niskavaara levelled just before the break. Adana goalkeeper Vagharshak Shahnazaryan saw red on 23 minutes and Timo Kopola then struck for Mad Max, but Armen Sanamyan and Grigor Kapukranyan responded to put the Armenian team into the lead. Although Niskavaara then was shown his second yellow card, Jere Blom equalised six minutes from the end.

Adana through
So it came down to Saturday's decisive fixtures with Adana, Mad Max and Roubaix still in the running. Adana took on Roubaix first and secured a 7-4 win that left Mad Max needing a convincing victory against Santos. But the Scottish team stormed into a 5-2 lead, and although the Finnish side equalised with two minutes to go, they departed from the tournament unbeaten. Adana now advance to Main round Group 3 in Poland from 9-12 October, where they will play hosts Clearex Chorzów, KMF Alfa Parf Skopje of F.Y.R. Macedonia and 2002 semi-finalists Sporting Clube de Portugal.




Courtesy: UEFA.com

Toligma swiftly into stride

Saturday, 16 September 2006

Toligma Chisinau made a fine UEFA Futsal Cup debut as they scored 20 goals and won all three games on their way to finishing top of preliminary round Group B.

Final-day drama
However, it all came down to a final-day showdown between Toligma and Andorran group hosts Granvalira FC Encamp. A 3-2 win for Toligma took them into Main round Group 5 in Hungary from 10-13 October, where they will play hosts Futsal Club Gödölloi, 2005/06 semi-finalists FC Shakhtar Donetsk and FC Raba of Latvia. Third place in the mini-tournament went to Switzerland's first representatives, Uni Futsal Team Bulle, who defeated England's Doncaster College DEAF FC 5-4.

Comfortable wins
Matchday 1 had produced a comfortable 7-0 win for Toligma against Uni, Iaroslav Subotin, Sergiu Tacot and Vitalie Bulala scoring in the first half and Alexei Mardari, Ian Iacovenco, Oleg Hilotii and Vitalie Plamadeala adding goals in the last seven minutes. Encamp then defeated Doncaster 7-2. Jofre Llort Samso and Miguel Blazquez Cerdeira both struck twice and Pere Babot added another to make it 5-0 to Encamp at the break, but Doncaster matched their opponents in the second half with two Alistair Dalziel goals, the first a penalty, against strikes from Sergio Becerra Almeida and Francisco Martinez.

Repeat victories
Next for Doncaster were Toligma, and at the ten-minute mark it was 2-2 as Christopher Maylor and John Atkinson had struck equaliser in response to goals from Subotin and Dorin Coceban. But Plamadeala and Iacovenco scored for Toligma before the break and after the break Tacot scored twice and Plamadeala, Coceban, Mardari and Iacovenco also found the target to make it 10-2 as Doncaster's Ben Lampert, Jon Smith and Maylor all saw red. Encamp kept their hopes alive with a 6-2 victory against Uni, having been four up at the interval through Carlos Barbosa Dias, Babot and two Cerdeira goals. David Meyer pulled two goals back, but after Uni's Laurent Rumo was given a secondyellow card, Babot and Samso increased Encamp's advantage. However, it was to prove in vain two days later.



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