Courtesy: UEFA.com


Italy stroll past Azerbaijan, Slovenia through too

Sunday 2 February 2014

Needing a two-goal margin of victory, Italy hit seven to progress at their opponents' expense, putting Slovenia through with them.

Azerbaijan 0-7 Italy

by Paul Saffer from Lotto Arena

Needing to win by a two-goal margin, Italy turned on the style to advance to the UEFA Futsal EURO 2014 quarter-finals as Group C winners at Azerbaijan's expense.

While Italy began with a 3-2 loss to Slovenia, Azerbaijan had beaten them 7-6. However, within four minutes Italy were 2-0 up and they, like Slovenia, can now look forward to a Tuesday quarter-final.

Italy pressed from the off and Sergio Romano opened the scoring as Merlim intercepted an Azerbaijan kick-in and fed Saad Assis, whose ball was turned in at the far post. Azerbaijan keeper Laercio Buranello was already joining attacks and forced a save from opposite number Stefano Mammarella, turning 30 today.

But in the fourth minute it was 2-0 in virtually the same fashion, this time Marco Ercolessi crossing and Fortino touching in. Italy were not sitting on their advantage and Gabriel Lima hit the side netting. It was three on 16 minutes as Hubmerto Honorio tackled Felipe, advanced with two options either side, and smashed the ball in himself.

Felipe hit the crossbar 12 seconds before the interval, and Azerbaijan re-started with their last-gasp hero against Slovenia, Edu, already on as flying keeper, though his next task was to save from Merlim. However, with Laercio back in goal, he could do nothing to stop Vampeta's vicious shot after Fortino teed him up. Soon after Gabriel Lima volleyed in Saad Assis's corner.

Azerbaijan were still pressing desperately, Edu and Amadeu both hitting a post. That left space for birthday boy Mammarella to punt into an empty net for a goal to go with his clean sheet, and he drew huge applause when taken off in the 39th minute, only for his replacement Michele Miarelli to also score. A second straight group exit for Azerbaijan, but nine of this squad and coach Alesio will have another chance of European success when Araz Naxçivan host the UEFA Futsal Cup finals in Baku in April.




Courtesy: UEFA.com


Spain cruise past Czech Republic

Sunday 2 February 2014

Spain's bid for a fifth straight title is back on track as they went through at the expense of the Czech Republic, Croatia joining them.

Czech Republic 1-8 Spain

by Paul Saffer from Lotto Arena

Holders Spain remain on course for a fifth straight UEFA Futsal EURO title after easing past the Czech Republic, helping Croatia through to the quarter-finals in the process.

Both these teams had drawn their Group D openers 3-3 with Croatia, but there was rarely any doubt that Spain were going to achieve something close to their 8-1 semi-final defeat of the Czechs in 2010. Spain now face Slovenia on Tuesday after Croatia, confirmed as through, face Italy.

Spain, without injured Miguelín and Lin, were determined to make up for failing to win their opener and Aicardo quickly made Libor Gerčák work. Fernandão soon made it 1-0 after being set up by Torras.

Czech chances were rare but Lukáš Rešetár broke and forced a save from Rafa, who also dived to deny David Cupák and was tested by an improvised Michal Seidler volley from a Libor Gerčáks long throw. However, with ten seconds left in the half Michal Belej conceded a penalty when he fouled Sergio Lozano, who stepped up to convert.

Early in the second half Torras was helped off holding his left knee, but Spain remained bright and Aicardo only just missed the target while Gerčák blocked in quick succession from Lozano and José Ruiz. However, there was nothing he could do when Fernandão unleashed a superb low shot from outside the area.

Seidler’s fine half-volley from wide hit the angle of post and bar, but Ortiz removed all doubt with a fine solo run and shot while falling. Flying goalkeeper Belej soon pulled one back but with the goal wide open Spain's José Ruiz restored the four-goal cushion with a shot from his own area. Raúl Campos added another from a more conventional attack and Lozano next turned the ball in after Pola's effort his the post. Lozano returned the favour, setting up Pola with a smart one-two to match the 2010 scoreline.




Courtesy: UEFA.com


Italy enjoy Mammarella's perfect birthday

Italy keeper Stefano Mammarella enjoyed his birthday with a clean sheet and a goal as "four days in hell" ended by eliminating a distraught Azerbaijan 7-0.

Sunday 2 February 2014

by Paolo Menicucci & Mikhail Malkin from Lotto Arena

Roberto Menichelli, Italy coach
The situation was complicated after the first game [a 3-2 loss to Slovenia] – losing the first game can be crucial in a group with three teams. Tonight we put everything in order. It was not easy especially at a psychological level, so I want to congratulate my players as they are the ones who win games and I'm eager to stress that.

Once again they were exceptional. Every game is different – against Slovenia it was extremely tight and it was not easy after they took the lead. Tonight everything went well from the start and we defended very well in the second half.

First of all Stefano [Mammarella] is an exceptional guy. Then he is also a great goalkeeper and he proved it once again tonight. We wish him happy birthday again even if we already did it at the hotel when we gave him a small cake with a candle, it's a tradition we have.

Now we are calmer because we reached the quarter-finals but, as I said many times, the standard of futsal has improved a lot and there are not just a couple of teams who can compete at a certain level as it was a few years ago. It's impossible to predict a quarter-final of a European Championship as any team can beat any team. As regards ourselves, I just hope we will play with the same focus we had tonight.

Stefano Mammarella, Italy goalkeeper
I asked my team-mates for a 2-0 win as a birthday present and we won 7-0 instead so it was a huge present from them. I also scored a goal for the first time in two years, I think. Now I cannot really remember the saves I made, so I will have to re-watch the game and see what I did well and what I did wrong.

This morning we came here just to work on defending against their flying goalkeeper because we knew they were very good with this tactic. We have had four days in hell after the defeat against Slovenia but finally we are first in the group. We had blood in our eyes when we took the pitch, everything returned to normal only when we came back in the dressing room after the game. I’m extremely happy, my wife, my son and some close friends came here for my birthday and my celebration after the goal was all for them in the stands.

Sergio Romano, Italy goalscorer
We are very happy, especially because we know that the team that lost against Slovenia was not the real Italy. In sport you always hope for a second chance when you leave the pitch knowing that you did not give it all. Tonight we played knowing that there was no room for mistakes.

The goal I scored gave me an immense joy, especially because we knew that everything would have become easier with an early goal. It was great, I almost wanted to go to take the ball from the net and bring it to the centre to restart immediately. It was a great victory and now we can celebrate for a couple of hours, but tomorrow we must already start thinking about the quarter-finals.

Alecio, Azerbaijan coach
A very heavy defeat. From our performance you could tell we were not going to get through to the quarter-finals. We had a big chance, but we just received a big blow. This kind of defeat ... the players are guilty, but I'm guilty too. I'm the main man who is responsible for this. A 7-0 defeat is much too ugly for Azerbaijan. I have never had this kind of defeat.

We created some chances, but didn't convert them. Meanwhile Italy scored more and more. Things have been getting worse and worse. I just can't understand it. The first two goals we conceded were absolutely the same. Even if today in the morning we spoke about this movement and game situation. The goalkeeper could have helped us, but it wasn't his day either.

We had to take risks in the second half because we needed goals. We didn't have any other option. I am so sorry but we can't change the result.

Biro Jade, Azerbaijan forward
In the last five minutes before half-time I started to feel that we would lose. When we conceded the third goal, it was clear that it wasn't our lucky day. We wanted to play on the counterattack, but it was just the opposite. Italy created chances and scored on counterattacks. At the end of the first half we saw that everything would be very hard for us. But I didn't expect we would lose by such a big scoreline. We couldn't imagine this.

Italy prepared for the match against us better [than Slovenia, who Azerbaijan beat 7-6]. They saw how we played our last match and they managed to prepare very well. It's a big risk if you use a flying goalkeeper. It's always like this. Italy organised their game well, scored many goals and now we go home. It's certainly a very unpleasant situation. We could even have afforded to lose by one goal, but conceding that many goals is a great pity.

It might be my last season. We will discuss this when the season ends. We will see ... I feel good physically, but not everything depends on me. If I decide to do one more I can do this as my physical condition is all right. I will need to consider few points and then I will decide.




Courtesy: UEFA.com


Spain up to speed as Czechs look back

Spain were happy to put their opening slip behind them in beating the Czech Republic, though injuries are piling up, while Tomáš Neumann regretted missed chances.

Monday 3 February 2014

by Gonzalo Aguado & Paul Saffer from Lotto Arena

José Venancio López, Spain coach
Tomorrow Torras will have a test to see the extent of his [knee] injury. Miguelín and Lin are doubtful for the match against Slovenia [in the quarter-finals]. We currently do not know whether they will be able to play on Tuesday. Sometimes these things happen, but we have to accept it and whatever happens we have a great team. The problem now is that we have only one day off.

I asked the players to make a point. We have done our duty, nothing else. Any team can surprise you, you can not underestimate anyone. Everything is very level. Now there is no margin of error, we can not fail. We were below par on the first day, and we cannot afford any more mistakes.

Rafa Usín, Spain forward
I think we had to improve after [the draw against Croatia on Friday]. Today we proved it was a small bump that can happen to any team. We wanted to win convincingly, playing well and showing our strength. We played the game we wanted.

I think this team has earned the right to be one of the best in the world. We've been quiet and we played at the level we wanted. We are very confident in the work we do and we have reflected it. As more games go by, I think you will see the best Spain, as always in the big tournaments.

[Slovenia] are a very physical team that have improved a lot in recent years. They are a team that is going to be hard to beat. They know what they do and have very clear ideas. We will have to carry the weight of favouritism and not give anything away. We have to do well to be in the next round.

Fernandão, Spain forward
This is a European championship, and we all want to give the maximum. There is no other goal in the team than playing the final. We had no doubts in the squad, that is up to journalists. We know that a European Championship is always very difficult. It was not bad we drew against Croatia. We left with a bad taste and do not want to repeat that feeling. I think we can give more. We lost two players [Lin and Miguelín] that are very important in the group. We hope nothing happens to Jordi [Torras], I feel very bad about that. I hope we can all be there on Tuesday and we get to the final.

Slovenia are a very strong team physically. We have recently played two games against them, one we won and we drew the other. But this will be completely different. This is a competition and if we lose we're out. Both they and we will approach the game very differently from those friendlies.

Sergio Lozano, Spain winger
We said the other day we had a slip and we had not played as well as we wanted. Today we were focused from the beginning and we succeeded. I think in any championship, Spain always improve as they go along. Over the matches we are improving and we hope to have a great game in the quarter-finals. Having drawn the other day could have created doubts in the squad, but we believe in ourselves. We have long been preparing for this tournament, and now let us focus on Slovenia.

Tomáš Neumann, Czech Republic coach
We played very well in the first half. We had about five good chances but we didn't take them, and then there was the penalty [that made it 2-0 just before half-time]. In the second half Spain did what they needed to do. We tried to score, we had some chances, but Spain were better in the second half.

For us the match against Croatia [which ended 3-3 when the Czechs conceded a late equaliser] was the most important, we needed to win. It is a pity that we didn’t win against Croatia. We knew it was the crucial match for us, to take us to the quarter-finals. Our future is very good, We have a lot of experience of playing in the European Championship, we must now build toward the next [FIFA Futsal] World Cup and EURO.

David Frič, Czech Republic defender
Spain are probably in the top three in the world, so we wanted to play aggressively and we wanted to play attacking futsal, as we wanted possession. But when we didn't do that they had the ball all the time, and they just kept creating chances, they had a lot of shots. We had two or three big chances in the first half but we missed them and if you play against as good a team as Spain, you've got to take every chance. We didn't do that and that's why we lost.

Why did we lose by so much? It is our priority to play. We want to learn and the best experience is this sort of match, that's why we attacked and that's why the score was what it was, it doesn't matter if it is 2-1 or 8-1.







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