Courtesy: UEFA.com

Charleroi cup bid on course

Monday, 2 April 2007

by Paul Saffer

UEFA Futsal Cup semi-finalists Action 21 Charleroi moved into the last four of the Belgian Cup at the weekend but their European opponents MFK Dinamo Moskva look like missing out on their domestic knockout trophy while in Spain ElPozo Murcia FS have closed the gap on Boomerang Interviú.

Charleroi score early
Charleroi, despite nearly disappearing in the summer, have won the Belgian Super Cup, remain in contention for both major domestic honours and have made the European final four. Having won the Belgian Cup for the last three seasons, they travelled to CP Hasselt in the quarter-finals of the latest edition. The visitors were without Liliu and Julien Pauly through injury but went ahead on four minutes through André Vanderlei after being sent up by Karim Chaibai. Hamza Laarissi equalised on 14 minutes and put Hasselt ahead early in the second half but Chaibai responded in the 27th minute.

Shoot-out success
Cihan Özcan restored the Hasselt advantage within seconds but Chaibai scored again two minutes later, and the game went to penalties. Zico, André and Chaibai were all successful for Charleroi in the shoot-out, and Eder Fehrmann made two stops to ensure a 3-1 spot-kick victory for the Actionmen, who visit second division MFC Real Châtelineau for a semi-final derby on 18 April, just eight days before their encounter with Dinamo in Murcia.

Dinamo defeated
Dinamo were at MFK VIZ-Sinara Ekaterinburg for the first leg of the Russian Futsal Cup final. The away side trailed 1-0 at half-time, but although Cirilo and Sergei Malyshev then put Dinamo ahead, the game swiftly turned again and VIZ-Sinara ran out 7-3 winners. The return in Moscow is on 14 April.

Boomerang held
Boomerang already have the Spanish Cup in the bag, but they now only lead the División de Honor by one point after being held 1-1 at Lobelle de Santiago FS, Neto's 34th-minute goal for the reigning European champions cancelled out two minutes from the end by Carlinhos. Murcia, who meet Boomerang in the UEFA Futsal Cup last four, moved to within one point of Boomerang as they won 4-3 against MRA Navarra, Vinicius scoring twice. Polaris World Cartagena FS are level with Murcia after a 10-1 victory at FC Barcelona. The top eight in Spain qualify for the championship play-offs with league position deciding seeding.



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