Courtesy: UEFA.com


Spain and Ukraine eye semi-finals

Monday 8 December 2008

by Paul Saffer from St Petersburg

The UEFA European Under-21 Futsal Tournament only began on Monday afternoon in St Petersburg but by Tuesday night both Spain and Ukraine could be through to the last four from Group B.

Opening wins
Spain opened the finals with a 4-0 defeat of Kazakhstan while Ukraine had to come from behind to secure a 3-2 win against the Netherlands. Should Spain beat the Netherlands and Ukraine overcome Kazakhstan on Matchday 2, that team will be through ahead of their encounter on Thursday.

Different proposition
It was a fluent performance from Spain, cannily echoing their much-honoured senior team. However, Spain coach Jordi García is expecting a very different sort of challenge from the Netherlands. "Kazakhstan play a more collective, tactical game," he said. "The Netherlands have more individual talents."

Dutch captain back
A late goal denied the Netherlands a point which their play perhaps merited, and coach Marcel Loosveld – who welcomes key man Najib El Allouchi back from suspension – knows the size of their task. "Of course it is not easy to beat Spain," he said. "On the other hand I will have my captain back and we will have to think about our tactical plan. It is clear that if we want to stay in the tournament for the third game we need to gain points tomorrow. The players are disappointed but they know they deserved more today so we will need to do some work to get them on the pitch tomorrow in new heart."

Homework
There was some measure of relief for Ukraine, who trailed in the first half and conceded a Dutch equaliser before their late winner. With the points in the bag coach Gennadiy Lysenchuk has been doing his homework on Kazakhstan. "We saw videos of Kazakhstan playing before the tournament – they are a quick and skilful team, very good with the ball. Today we saw them play as well. We'll try to give the boys all the information they need, so that tomorrow we can win and go through to the semi-finals one game before the end of the group stage."

Recovery
Amirzhan Mukhanov was aware before the tournament that his young Kazakhstan team were up against it in their nation's first UEFA final tournament but like Looseveld is working hard to get his squad in the right frame of mind. "After watching Ukraine's match against the Netherlands we'll know more about our opponents. We also have to rehabilitate ourselves and then start to prepare in usual manner. Spain were more skilful than us and we have very young players.



Courtesy: UEFA.com


No room for slip-ups in tight Group A race

Monday 8 December 2008

by Wayne Harrison from St Petersburg

Italy coach Paolo Minicucci described the Azzurrini's remaining two UEFA European Under-21 Futsal Tournament Group A matches as "must-win games" as they take on Croatia and hosts Russia play Slovenia on Tuesday with all four teams on one point each.

Slovenian test
Slovenia made Italy work especially hard for their point, twice taking the lead only for their opponents to swiftly equalise. Russia and Croatia also drew, 3-3 in the other match of the section, to leave the pool wide open but Minicucci is adamant his team must gain the maximum return from their remaining matches, starting against Croatia.

'Physical' game
"It will be a game very similar to the one we played today; very physical and one in which we will definitely have control of possession and Croatia will be concentrating on defending and counterattacking," said Minicucci. "We will have to work in order to play better. The matches against Croatia and Russia are two must-win games."

Defensive efforts
Mladen Perica, whose Croatia side's lead against Russia disappeared with two seconds left, echoed his counterpart's sentiments and admitted that they will most likely start as underdogs. "We know Italy well as we have played them recently [drawing 2-2 and losing 8-4 last year] and our preparation will be on our defending," he said. "We will defend in the right way with our heart and we will succeed. The quality will be with Italy as it was with Russia but we will do our best to win."

Scoring plea
A victory for either side would put the pressure on Russia and Slovenia, who meet later on Tuesday. Russia coach Oleg Ivanov was unhappy at the chances spurned during their draw with Croatia, and feels the hosts must be more clinical to attract a new generation of futsal supporter to the Yubileyny Sports Palace. "I didn't see Slovenia's first match but our assistant coach did," he said. "We'll watch everything and make our tactical plan. I really want more spectators to come to the stadium, especially children, who might start playing futsal after that. But I know that if we score more goals the spectators will come."

Hopes 'alive'
Slovenia resisted a late surge from Italy to claim a point and their coach, Zoran Tesko, agreed with Minicucci that a victory is needed. "We had to hold tight to keep our hopes alive in our group," said Tesko. "Now we have to beat Russia or Croatia. We don't know that much about Russia and I have to analyse their first game."







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