Courtesy: UEFA.com


Barcelona, Dinamo and Kairat into finals

Holders FC Barcelona, 2007 winners MFK Dinamo and perennial qualifiers Kairat Almaty are through to the UEFA Futsal Cup finals after topping their elite round groups with perfect records.

Saturday 13 October 2012

FC Barcelona, Kairat Almaty and MFK Dinamo qualified for the UEFA Futsal Cup finals, staged in late April by one of the contenders, following the conclusion of three elite round groups on Saturday.

Barça, who won the competition at the first attempt last season, will defend their title in 2013 after ending the challenge of Group A hosts FC Litija in front of a packed hall in Lasko. Going into the game against the Slovenian amateurs level on points, the holders emerged with their third victory in as many matches courtesy of counterattack goals from Torras and Igor and a late Lozano penalty. Araz Naxçivan sealed third place with a 5-1 defeat of MNK Split.

Champions five years ago in Murcia, Dinamo enjoyed more success in south east Spain as they defeated Group C hosts Murcia FS 4-2. Needing a win to qualify at the expense of their opponents, the Russian side had goalkeeper Gustavo sent off for handling outside the penalty area after 18 minutes.

The three-time runners-up fell behind for the second occasion when Adri made it 2-1, but Faustino Pérez's team recovered the situation with three goals in as many second-half minutes from Aleksandr Fukin, Tatù and Nando. In the other match, Energy Lviv beat bottom-placed FK Nikars Riga 3-1.

The biggest winners of the day were Kairat, who put five goals without reply past Group B hosts and qualification rivals KMF Ekonomac Kragujevac to reach their fifth semi-final, Alexandre Moraes stealing the show with a hat-trick in Serbia. FK EP Chrudim signed off with a victory in the early fixture, triumphing 4-1 against Slov-Matic Bratislava.

The fourth finalists will be decided on Sunday. Group D hosts Iberia Star Tbilisi lead opponents SL Benfica on goal difference, with Gyori ETO FC, two points adrift, able to pip both if they beat Luparense C/5 in the early game and the late match is a low-scoring draw.




Courtesy: UEFA.com


Iberia Star progress to complete finals picture

Iberia Star Tbilisi completed the finals lineup by beating SL Benfica 7-4 to win elite round Group D and will compete with holders FC Barcelona, Kairat Almaty and MFK Dinamo in late April.

Sunday 14 October 2012

Iberia Star Tbilisi have completed the UEFA Futsal Cup finals lineup after sealing first place in elite round Group D.

The perennial Georgian champions, the only side to have entered all 12 editions of the competition, earned their finals debut thanks to three late goals in a 7-4 defeat of 2010 winners SL Benfica. Iberia Star will join holders FC Barcelona, Kairat Almaty and 2007 winners MFK Dinamo in the finals – to be staged by one of the four contenders – in late April, after the three other sides all secured their places on Saturday.

Only Group D stragglers Luparense C/5 began the day out of contention for top spot, and Győri ETO FC made sure they kept their qualification chances intact by downing the Italian club 3-2 in the early game in Tbilisi. Fábio Aguiar responded to Giovanni Pedotti's early opener for Luparense and added a second on 22 minutes, with Garrido Luque sealing the win after Gonzalo Abdala had levelled on the half-hour.

That result took Hungarian hopefuls Gyor a point clear of Iberia Star and Benfica and needing a low-scoring draw between their rivals to remain top of the pile. It was not to be, however, as the duo went on to contest a thrilling encounter in the Georgian capital. Augusto put the hosts ahead with just over two minutes on the clock, and Romario restored their lead shortly after Marinho's 11th-minute equaliser.

After Teka proved unable to beat Iberia Star goalkeeper Celio from the penalty spot, Marinho fired the teams level again, but the home side ended the half two goals to the good as Rafa and Lúcio both struck. Champions in 2010, Benfica were not about to let their chance slip without a fight, though, and Marinho completed his hat-trick just after the restart before Nene made it 4-4.

Suddenly, the Portuguese outfit were in the driving seat and heading for the finals on goals scored in a three-way head-to-head with Iberia Star and Gyor, but their situation soon unravelled. Marinho was dismissed with three minutes to go and Augusto converted the resultant penalty, with Rafa and Roninho both registering in the final minute to put the outcome beyond doubt. In the end, not even Romario's late dismissal was enough to take the sheen off a breakthrough triumph for Sergio Benatti's men.




Courtesy: UEFA.com


Barcelona, Dinamo, Kairat, Iberia celebrate

Holders FC Barcelona, 2007 winners MFK Dinamo, last-four regulars Kairat Almaty and debut finalists Iberia Star Tbilisi have made April's showpiece and UEFA.com rounds up the reaction.

Monday 15 October 2012

Holders FC Barcelona, last season's runners-up and 2007 winners MFK Dinamo, Kairat Almaty and Iberia Star Tbilisi clinched UEFA Futsal Cup finals places at the weekend after topping their elite round groups.

On Saturday, Barcelona beat Group A hosts FC Litija in Slovenia to come through with 28 goals from their three wins. Group B went to Kairat, overcoming KMF Ekonomac Kragujevac 5-0 in Serbia to reach their fifth semi-final. A third host team lost the Group C decider, Murcia FS leading twice but defeated 4-2 by Dinamo.

However on Sunday one home team did go through: sole competition ever-presents Iberia Star will make their finals debut thanks to a thrilling 7-4 defeat of SL Benfica. The Portuguese outfit had levelled three times and at that stage looked set to pip both the hosts and Gyori ETO FC. UEFA.com rounds up the reaction from all four qualifiers, one of whom will stage the knockout finals in late April.

Marc Carmona, Barcelona coach
A lot of merit has to be given to what will be our second successive qualification for the four-team UEFA Futsal Cup finals. Our last game against FC Litija was very difficult. They played really well but their level of performance wasn't surprising to us at all. They had that extra motivation of playing at home. It cost us a lot of effort to get the result against them but overall I think our qualifying for the final tournament is justified.

Ari Santos, Barcelona defender
I'm delighted with how the team played over the past few days. We've returned Barça to where they were last season. We only conceded one goal in the three games we played in Lasko. Litija made things very difficult for us in that last game.

Faustino Pérez, Dinamo coach
We outplayed Murcia in every detail. The lads tried to put out of their minds the fans, who were against us. After their goal we started to attack with more commitment and desire. I am very happy with my team, with our discipline, which helped us to overcome difficult circumstances. I want to congratulate my players because they achieved our objective.

Gennadi Garagulya, Dinamo goalkeeper
We were a bit too nervous in the first half, we conceded first. But we were able to change the game after that, we created more chances. After Gustavo was sent off [bringing substitute Garagulya into the game] it was hard, but we stood firm. I could breathe with relief only after the final whistle. The tension was just incredible, the fans drove Murcia to score. I think I will remember this match for the rest of my life.

Sergio Benatti, Iberia Star coach
In the form of SL Benfica we had very strong opponents. The 4-4 scoreline made them the logical side to go through. But Iberia Star are now not only strong technically but psychologically and we were ready to beat them. Gyori were tough opponents for us. They have a good coach and most of their players are well trained in the Spanish futsal school. We drew, but I hope next time we could won against them. The first win against Luparense with a comfortable 6-1 score gave us confidence in ourselves. We prepared in the correct way before every game and were sure that we could do it.

Goga Altunashvili, Iberia Star captain
I want to say thanks to all of our fans and congratulations for this victory. I can't speak now, and don't know how to speak. Before the start of the tournament we thought that every match would be like a final. In fact this is what happened, everything was decided in the last game. Iberia twice have been one step from the finals and now our third try was successful.

João Carlos Barbosa, Kairat coach
Some people think that we were lucky and we got easy opponents in the elite round. Yes, we could be named as favourites, but other teams met the requirements of these high-level matches as you could see in our fixtures against Slov-Matic Bratislava, EP Chrudim and Ekonomac Kragujevac. Our team fulfilled our plan and won every match here.

Now something more is waiting for us. I mean the finals. We hope that with our experience we can get positive results. We have time to get ready for this and the main thing is to follow our plan.

Barcelona and Dinamo are great teams, they both have won the trophy before, but we have not. Our best result is third place. Iberia Star Tbilisi from Georgia won a group with many strong teams and this is the an indication of their strength.






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