Courtesy: UEFA.com


Gorica claim last Main round place

Sunday 17 August 2008

by Paul Saffer

KMN Gorica completed the UEFA Futsal Cup Main round lineup today after topping Preliminary round Group E in Finland with a 2-1 win against Golden Futsal Team.

Gorica through
Gorica and hosts Golden won their opening games on Thursday and kept up that form yesterday as the Slovenian team beat Irish champions Saint Patrick's Athletic FC 4-2 and the Finnish contenders overcame Malta's Scandals Futsal FC 6-2. That latter win was not enough for the Espoo club to overhaul their goal difference deficit, so they needed to win today. But the game was 1-1 at half-time and Gorica struck the only goal after the break. They now progress to next month's Main round, where Gorica enter Group 1 against 2004 runners-up SL Benfica, Athina '90 Athens and Montenegrin hosts KMF Municipium Pjlevija. St Patrick's defeated Scandals 4-3 for third place.

Qualifiers
The other five Preliminary round groups finished earlier this week, with mini-tournament winners FK Nikars Riga, Carillon Boys Beverwijk, Nautara Kaunas, FC Nadin Sofia and Roubaix Futsal joining Gorica and the 18 automatic entrants in next month's second stage. France's Roubaix, who have made it through the Preliminary round for the first time in three attempts, have landed a plum tie against 2005 UEFA Futsal Cup winners Action 21 Charleroi in Group 3 along with Romanian hosts CS Odorheiu Secuiesc and Viten Orsha of Belarus. Among the other sides entering in the Main round are 2006 semi-finalists FC Shakhtar Donetsk, up against Croatia's HMNK Gospiæ, Hungarian hosts MVFC Berettyóújfalu and Beverwijk in Group 4.

Elite round
Sides finishing first and second in the six groups will progress to the Elite round draw on 25 September along with the four top seeds exempted to that stage – holders MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg, former winners MFK Dinamo Moskva and Interviú FS plus last season's fourth-placed team Kairat Almaty. The four Elite round groups will be played from 8 to 16 November with the winners advancing to April's one-venue final four event.





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