Courtesy: UEFA.com


Spain too strong for Romania

Wednesday 31 October 2007

by Lucy Turner from Barcelona

UEFA European Futsal Championship holders Spain look in good shape for next month's finals after 4-1 and 6-1 friendly wins against fellow contenders Romania in Galicia.

Useful tests
While Spain are the dominant force in international futsal, Romania will be making their finals debut in Porto and this was a chance to see how far they have progressed since two 7-1 defeats by the world champions in September 2006. Spain coach José Venancio, meanwhile, had a last chance to run the rule over his players before naming his squad for Portugal next Wednesday.

Late goals
Rafa Muñoz missed both games for Spain due to a shoulder injury, but there was a call-up for Marcelo, whose Azkar Lugo FS team-mate Ignacio Werner made his debut in the first of the matches. Daniel opened the scoring in the first game in Burela with a penalty on 13 minutes but Zoltán Mihály equalised to leave the scores at 1-1 at the break. In the final ten minutes Romania's hopes of a famous result were dashed by strikes from Borja, Andreu and Werner.

Comfortable win
The following day in Naron, Spain had no such first-half concerns as they led 4-0 at the break through Kike, Álvaro, Andreu and Borja. Another Borja goal made it five in the 25th minute and Ortiz extended the advantage late on before George Tomescu's last-gasp consolation. Romania conclude their preparations against Belgium in Bucharest on 11/12 November before opening their Group A campaign against the Czech Republic four days later. Spain face Kazakhstan in Castro Urdiales on 9 November, eight days before beginning their title defence in Group B against Ukraine.



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