Courtesy: UEFA.com


Ukraine's Sorokin brothers bring down Romania

Thursday 30 January 2014

Brothers Dmytro and Oleksandr Sorokin combined to defeat Romania – who still went through – the former telling UEFA.com: "I saw he got the ball, he gave it to me and I took my chance."

by Wayne Harrison & Mikhail Malkin from Lotto Arena

Dmytro Sorokin, Ukraine goalscorer
I play alongside my brother a lot. I saw that he got the ball, then he gave it to me and I took my chance. Of course, our parents watched the match - they've seen everything. We planned not to play too close to our goal, not to let them have a lot of shots. Not everything went well, but we did 70% of what we planned. We will keep working on some aspects to continue in this tournament. Against Belgium we will try to play better than we did today.

Oleksandr Sorokin, Ukraine forward
Right after the match I thanked my brother. We create some goals at our club [Lokomotiv Kharkiv] too. We didn't play well today. It's nice that we won, but we will only be happy when we get to the quarter-finals. We were not scared by the fact that Romania beat Belgium by so many goals [6-1]. That match could have finished differently, so it won't be easy against Belgium [on Saturday].

Yevhen Ryvkin, Ukraine coach
At the beginning we were too nervous. Maybe it was easier for Romania because they had already played one match. Getting to the finals was already a big achievement and my players want to show their capabilities, but psychological constraints prevent us from doing this.

Marian Șotărcă, Romania defender
We played very well, it was a close game between two good teams. We made one big mistake and they scored. In the tight games, the team that makes a mistake usually loses. Unfortunately, it was us. We're happy and a little sad. It was our objective to get to the quarter-finals, but we're sad because we lost.

We wanted to do the same as in Croatia two years ago [reach the last eight]. If we can win in the quarter-finals – it's going to be very difficult – that will be good for us, but if we don't it's OK, no problem. Romania, at the moment, can compete against the big teams.

Nelu Stancea, Romania coach
After our play-off against Serbia we had an objective to reach the quarter-finals. We had an opportunity to mark [the goalscorer] but we didn't take it. Maybe the concentration of the players wasn't at the right level. The right result would've been a draw. We had the chances, we hit the bar and post, and in the second half we played better than Ukraine. The players are suffering because they know they deserved, at the very least, a draw, but we have hope for the future.



Courtesy: UEFA.com


Portugal relieved, Netherlands exit with pride

Friday 31 January 2014

Jorge Braz, Ricardinho and two-goal Bruno Coelho put Portugal's progress down to their unity while the Netherlands, beaten 5-0, reflected on their exit after a fine display.

by Nuno Tavares & Paul Saffer from Lotto Arena

Jorge Braz, Portugal coach
We made a couple of mistakes here and there in the first [few] minutes, but we faced a very ambitious team with quality players. We knew that we hadn't witnessed the real Netherlands in the match against Russia and we could see just that tonight. We managed to show an unbelievable team spirit and when that happens it is very difficult for things to go wrong for us. We managed to correct those initial mistakes during the match. A match has 40 minutes and you need to know how to deal with every moment.

The support of our fans was simply amazing. We felt like we were playing at home and all we can do is thank them. That only gives us more strength in order to pay them back for their faith and support. We are not worried with who we are going to face from Group A. We are only worried about improving some aspects of our game. I'm sure we will get even better. The results of Spain and Italy don't surprise me. The truth is that people are not paying attention to what is happening in futsal. There are other teams with a lot of quality.

The match against Russia will be an important test for us, but the same applies to them. It will be a very good futsal game and, above all, another memorable day for futsal. We are looking forward to it.

Bruno Coelho, Portugal defender
It is a dream come true to score two goals in my first game at a UEFA Futsal EURO finals, but even more so because I was able to help my team win and seal a place in the quarter-finals. It was our debut in the competition and it is always important to win the first match, so tonight's result is even more relevant

The first minutes of the game were not easy for us, but, maybe because it was our first match, we struggled a bit at the start. However, after that we managed to improve our display, to get into our rhythm and to seal a very import triumph.

The Netherlands needed to get a positive result in order to avoid being eliminated and the fact is that they proved tonight that they also have a team with a lot of quality. Tonight’s match was an excellent futsal spectacle. We prefer to think one match at a time rather than to focus on a specific objective for this tournament.

Ricardinho, Portugal forward
Our first two goals were crucial because I think we were very nervous at the start. Things just didn't go our way at the start of the match and they even hit the post. Like I said, the first two goals were decisive because it gave us tranquillity for the rest of the match. We were all united and that was the key to our success. Unfortunately we couldn't use our captain [Arnaldo was suspended], so this victory is also for him.

It was a hard game and some of our players were very tired after the final whistle, but the most important thing is that we won and managed to go through the group stage. We didn't want to lose this match and we also didn't want to concede first because we knew they are a team who defend very well. Their players are physically very strong and that is a worry for us in this tournament because there are more teams like that.

Marcel Loosveld, Netherlands coach
We played an excellent game. It is important that you score goals and also when we conceded goals, some people were sleeping in defence. We have some things to work on with this team, but, again, we played a very good match. It is a young team, we can go on for some years, so I hope we can develop on this way, with a passing game, a moving game, and those players with excellent technique can also come to understand what futsal means.

We started very well. We had chances, we hit the post, we had a great shot from [Mohamed] Attaibi and [Najib] El Allouchi had a great chance – sometimes you have to be a little bit lucky to get ahead. It was the same at 2-0. If we had got it back to 2-1 the team would have believed in themselves. It would have been great to do something more.

We prepared the same [as for the 7-1 loss to Russia on Tuesday], but in the first match the players were nervous. I told them yesterday, 'just play your match, you can play very well, you can play excellently, but don’t be nervous, that can block you from doing anything'. We showed today that we can compete with excellent countries. The scoreline was too big, but it was the result. If we had been in an easier group we could have competed with some other countries.

Petrus Grimmelius, Netherlands goalkeeper
We made chances, but Portugal were deadly in front of goal. One-nil, 2-0, then you are finished. It was difficult for us to play. I am very proud, it was a long game. At 2-0 we just made one defensive slip, then it was three and it was finished.

The atmosphere was excellent – chants for Portugal, chants for Holland. This is futsal, how it should be. It was very beautiful and a great honour to play on this stage. I hope we can make it in 2016 [the UEFA Futsal EURO in Serbia and the FIFA Futsal World Cup] in Colombia. We played well in qualification and we have potential for the future.







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