Courtesy: UEFA.com


Gödöllö prepare for step up

Tuesday, 28 November 2006

by Márton Dinnyés

from Budapest

With the Elite round of the UEFA Futsal Cup getting under way from next Monday, uefa.com is taking a closer look at each of the 16 sides involved. Today we examine Group D hosts Futsal Club Gödöllö, who will be welcoming Spanish champions El Pozo Murcia FS, 2005/06 semi-finalists Kairat Almaty and FC Dorozhnik Minsk to Budapest.

Domestic double
Gödöllö - nicknamed the Bulls - were only founded in 2002, and finished sixth in the second division in their debut season. In their third campaign they won promotion and took the title at their first top-flight attempt in 2005/06. They gained the most points in the regular season and after knocking out Csõ-Montage BFC in the play-off semi-finals they faced reigning champions Colorspectrum Aramis Budapest. After each side had won once away and once at home, Gödöllö staged the decider and triumphed 7-1. That completed the double as János Kis’s team had already beaten Colorspectrum 7-5 in the Hungarian Cup final.

European bow
This season Gödöllö are flying high again, leading Montage by three points with a game in hand, while Colorspectum struggle in ninth, having lost 6-2 at home to the champions on 13 November. Gödöllö also impressed in front of four-figure crowds at their Körcsarnok home on their UEFA Futsal Cup debut, ensuring progress from the Main round with comfortable wins against FC Raba and Toligma Chisinau before an 11-0 defeat by 2005/06 semi-finalists FC Shakhtar Donetsk. More sell-out crowds are expected for the Elite round.

'Have to concentrate'
Looking ahead to the mini-tournament, where only one final four place is up for grabs, Kis said: "I guess we had good games in the first qualifying round but I'm not completely happy after the serious loss against Donetsk on the final day. We learnt that we have to concentrate for the whole game and take our chances. We are in a tough group, I would be delighted if we could win one game and be very happy if we could win two. Our aim is to be give a good game to all our opponents."

Internationals
Among his squad are eight Hungarian national team players, and they were in action last week in a two-game home friendly series against Finland. Tamás Lódi and János Madarász both totalled three goals over the fixtures as Hungary won 4-2 then drew 5-5, following on from recent creditable losses in Brazil and Spain. Against Brazil, Madarász passed the 75-cap mark and his 71 goals are only one short of the all-time national record.



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