Courtesy: UEFA.com


Capar: Repeat performance extra special

After yet again saving Croatia with a late equaliser as flying goalkeeper, Matija Capar explained why it was extra special to deny the Czech Republic, who rued their mistakes.

Saturday 1 February 2014

by Paul Saffer from Lotto Arena

Matija Capar, Croatia flying goalkeeper
We didn't win. The draw is good for us, because [the Czech Republic] now play against Spain, and we are through unless it finishes 4-4 or 5-5. I don't know what will happen if Spain and the Czech Republic do draw 4-4, but we had a lot of luck against Spain.

The feeling is incredible because on the bench, everybody went: "Believe, believe, believe, you are going to score." Five years ago we lost to the Czech Republic in qualifying in Ostrava: they scored three seconds before the end. Somewhere in my mind was "three seconds, three seconds, three seconds" and when it was the draw, I said: "I want the Czech Republic; it was not fair how they beat us."

Today, the coach said I was not going to play flying goalkeeper, but [Dario] Marinović picked up an injury and I played. This was God's plan, I think! That I played again and scored the goal, it meant a lot for our team.

[Compared to his goal against Spain] we played the same sort of movement; we don't stay in one place. Again I was in the right place at the right time and Franko [Jelovčić] put in a pass for me and I scored.

It didn't always go well in the game – they scored and maybe it was my fault, I don't know. But we believe, and we have a good team spirit because we are young. Two years ago, we were fourth in Europe and we believed we were a better team than the Czech Republic but we knew the Czech Republic are a team that have nine lives, like a cat. They came back from 2-1, and to equalise was an incredible feeling for me.

I hope maybe [Sunday's game ends] 2-2, then we will finish top. But I hope we go through and I don't care where we finish – first or second – only that we go through.

Marin Smoje, Croatia assistant coach
It was a really great game. I want to congratulate the Czech Republic; they played really well. We saved ourselves and we are really happy about it. [Capar] saved us, and we did expect it in a way: we had worked on all those tactics all this time. He is our saviour, and we thank him.

Dario [Marinović] is going to be fine. He has a small injury; we will work on it, but he already feels better so he will be prepared for the coming games. Now we have to wait for Sunday. In a way we will cheer for Spain as they are a better national team, but we feel we are already there.

Tomáš Neumann, Czech Republic coach
It was a crazy match. We were ahead, then Croatia were ahead, then we were ahead, and finally Croatia scored an equaliser. We made a lot of mistakes. It is unbelievable in this tournament. We made a big mistake, Croatia exploited this error and scored, and in the second half we started very well. We scored twice, but in the last ten minutes we did not play active futsal and, although we had chances, we didn't score. I think our main chance was the double penalty [which was saved] – it is a pity. We wanted to win, but it finished 3-3 and now we must prepare for Spain.

Roman Mareš, Czech Republic forward
Our start wasn't good. It was our first game in this Futsal EURO. Then we scored and we were feeling more comfortable. We conceded twice, but after the break we got two – but we still had to score one more goal, and we were not able to. We saw the [Croatia against Spain] match and we were able to prepare for their tactics in this match. Our coach Neumann did a good job in readying us.

Libor Gerčák, Czech Republic goalkeeper
I think it was a very attractive match for the fans to watch. We saw a lot of good chances and a very dramatic conclusion. We played very well but luck was not with us; we conceded the goal at the end. We made many mistakes and that was the main factor in this match – our mistakes.



Courtesy: UEFA.com


Borisov: 'What emotions, what a match'

Azerbaijan captain Vitality Borisov, winning scorer Edu and coach Alecio reflected on an emotional 7-6 defeat of Slovenia, who themselves "had nothing to be ashamed of".

Saturday 1 February 2014

by Mikhail Malkin & Paul Saffer from Lotto Arena

Vitaliy Borisov, Azerbaijan captain
Yes, it was crazy futsal indeed. The fans are already used to this. We had a similar match at the last finals when we played against Serbia, but we lost 9-8 then. Today we were luckier and we won. You feel nervous in each EURO match, especially if it is your first match in the tournament. We scored the first goal fast, but just after that we conceded.

It affected our performance. We didn't do what the coach asked, especially at set pieces. It's good everything finished in that way, and we showed one more time how great we are at five against four [with a flying goalkeeper].

I as a captain didn't need to say something to my team-mates. They understood what they needed to do. We have played together for many years and each of us worked for the whole team, for anyone who got into problems at any time. We left our hearts on the pitch in the second half. Some kept going even with a slight injury. We spent all our energy during this match. My words were not needed on the pitch. Anyway, nobody would have heard me... What emotions, what a match.

When we scored our seventh goal, I thought that Slovenia would send their flying goalkeeper to the pitch. A few seconds later, I understood that they might be fine with this scoreline. We beat them by one goal; they won their first match by one goal. Probably, they hope that the result of our match against Italy will suit them. They just didn't want to let us score one more goal. When I noticed that they still played without a flying goalkeeper and we had almost no fouls, I was sure that we would get three points.

Edu, Azerbaijan winning goalscorer
It was a very hard match. Slovenia proved once more that they have great team. Yes, I cried after the whistle. All our team cried because we are one family – Azerbaijani, Brazilians, all of us. It was a very emotional moment.

Alecio, Azerbaijan coach
I didn't like how we played. We made a lot of mistakes. We played well only when we were five against four. I didn't like all the other aspects of our game. We didn't play well in defence and conceded three goals after set pieces. We have also had problems with creating attacks. There were moments when I just wanted to sit down and close my eyes, but coaches can't do that. They have to see all the match from beginning to end.

It's bad that my players are very tired now and we need to play against Italy on Sunday. We started this match with two fours [swapping en masse], but then I was forced to use mostly our leading players. I cried with all the others because I know how much effort my team put in. We haven't been at home for almost one month; we have had two training camps and this win was very important for us. Nobody wanted to keep their emotions and tears with them.

Gašper Vrhovec, Slovenia hat-trick scorer
It was a very good match to watch, I believe, but very hard to play. We could smell victory but unfortunately we were denied. We played against a team who play together at club level too [for Araz Naxçivan], and are very good at using the flying goalkeeper. We think that in a regular outfield 4v4, we were the better team, and we fought until the end. We tried to match them at 5-4 up, when they had the flying goalkeeper, but they had the extra outfield player, and we couldn't hold out.

I think that was not crucial. We were well prepared but they scored a goal with a flying goalkeeper, there it is.

I am glad that I am at the top of the scoring charts, but the most important thing is for the team to qualify for the quarter-finals.

We have had very good results. We have time to rest – we could even end up first in the group.

Andrej Dobovičnik, Slovenia coach
We were very close to victory, but you can see we only have a small number of players we rely on. Azerbaijan's players largely come from the one club; they are all professionals, they all train twice a day and, of course, they know how to play with the flying goalkeeper. We are sorry that we wasted a very good opportunity to qualify as group winners, but that is sport so we are waiting for the result of the final match between Italy and Azerbaijan.

You could see that, in the second half, we were a bit slow on the pitch; it's very hard to play two very tough games with little rest in between. But the players gave their all and we have nothing to be ashamed of.






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