Courtesy: UEFA.com

Rivals face off for Spanish title

Monday 11 June 2007

Spain's two 2006/07 UEFA Futsal Cup contenders Boomerang Interviù and El Pozo Murcia FS will battle it out for a place in next season's competition after both reached the Spanish championship play-off final.

Boomerang through
Boomerang beat hosts Murcia in the UEFA Futsal Cup semi-finals this year but then lost their European crown to MFK Dinamo Moskva, meaning Spain has only one place in the tournament in 2007/08. Having finished top in the División de Honor regular season, Boomerang are No1 seeds in the play-off and after beating Carnicer Torrejón FS in the last eight took on Benicarló Onda Urbana FS in the semi-finals. With a 5-1 win at home, they knew victory in Sunday's away game would wrap up the series with a fixture to spare, and took an early 2-0 lead through Schumacher and Marquinho. David pulled one back, and although Andreu made it 3-1, Antonio Vadillo and Valença scored either side of half-time to equalise. However, Edgar Bertoni restored the Boomerang advantage in the 25th minute, and the 4-3 scoreline proved decisive.

Murcia edge thriller
Reigning champions Murcia, who beat Caja Segovia to make the last four, finished third below Polaris World Cartagena FS in the regular season so were forced to travel for the first game of their series, a rematch of the 2005/06 final. An exciting encounter ended 3-3, so the match went to penalties, and in sudden death Simi failed from the spot for the home team so Joel Queirós was able to secure the victory 6-5. Now Murcia only needed a home victory on Sunday and Vinicius and Joel put them two up on eleven minutes. However, in a two-minute second-half spell Lenisio and Torras levelled the scores, and though Álvaro made it 3-2, Lenisio instantly equalised to force extra time. But three minutes in Vinicius found the target, and Murcia held on to set up a Boomerang showdown, with the first game in Madrid on 20 June, the return three days later in Murcia. If a decider is needed, Boomerang will stage it on 30 June having already beaten Murcia in the UEFA Futsal Cup, Spanish Futsal Cup final and gained a win and a draw in league games, and well and having the edge in the play-off finals of 2002/03, 2003/04 and 2004/05.

Portuguese play-offs
Another meeting of old rivals could still happen in the Portuguese league play-off finals. SL Benfica, UEFA Futsal Cup runners-up in 2003/04, are safely through to the final after beating AR Freixierio 5-3 away and 3-2 on penalties after a 6-6 home draw. Title-holders Sporting Clube de Portugal, who finished two places below top side Benfica in the regular season, are up against Fundação JA but recovered from a 5-1 home loss to win 8-6 on penalties after a thrilling 4-4 draw in the first away game on Saturday. Fundação will be at home for the decider tonight.




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