Courtesy: UEFA.com


Kairat take title race to play-off

Wednesday 9 April 2008

Kairat Almaty set up a play-off for the Kazakhstan title, MFK Dinamo Moskva and MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg showed winning form and ElPozo Murcia FS suffered a rare setback as the UEFA Futsal Cup final four contenders continued their domestic campaign ahead of the European deciders from 25-27 April.

Decider
Aiming for a fifth league crown in a row, Kairat have been put under pressure by Aktobe BTA all season and ended up needing to beat Tulpar-Ikar Karaganda twice in their final games to wipe out the six-point gap. And 4-2 and 2-1 victories ensured Kairat did just that. In the first match Pica Pau was on target twice with Yuriy Butrin and Rafael adding goals, the latter struck both in the second encounter. Kairat will now aim to add the league title to their Kazakhstan Cup triumph when they face Aktobe at the Karaganda Sports Palace on 16 April.

Dinamo march on
Ekaterinburg will take on Kairat in the first UEFA Futsal Cup semi-final in Moscow on 25 April and the Russian side remain third in the Super League after defeating fourth-placed MFK Tyumen 4-3 and 5-2. However, they remaining a point behind TTG-Java Yugorsk and 16 adrift of final four hosts Dinamo, who overcame city rivals MFK CSKA Moskva 4-3 and 4-2 to move over 100 points, remain unbeaten and stay on course for a sixth consecutive championship.

Interviú crown
The UEFA Futsal Cup holders and hosts take on Murcia in the semi-finals and they were held to their second straight away draw as they finished 5-5 at Armiñana Valencia but they defeated UD Gestesa Guadalajara FS, with hat-tricks from Mauricio and Vinicius, to all but ensure top seeding for the championship play-offs. Two-time European champions Interviú Fadesa are second, but made up for their UEFA Futsal Cup absence at the weekend by lifting the Intercontinental Futsal Cup for the fourth year running with a 6-1 win against Brazilian champions Malwee Futsal in Granada. Fellow former UEFA Futsal Cup holders Action 21 Charleroi finished fourth having lost 3-1 to Interviú in the group stage, but are six points clear in Belgium with only three games left before the play-offs.




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