Seven up for Ukraine

Ukraine cruised to victory in the opening game of the UEFA European Futsal Championship putting seven goals past luckless Belgium.

No looking back
Gennady Lysenchuk's men took their time in Caserta but soon gained the upper hand after Fedir Pylpiv had found the net in the ninth minute with a fierce shot from the right-hand side. A minute later, Olexandr Kosenko scored with an almost identical finish and there was no looking back, much to Lysenchuk's delight come the final whistle.

Coach satisfied
"Belgium have a very strong team so we are very happy to get this result," he said. "The reason we let in two goals is because we had a good lead and relaxed a little too much. But I am satisfied with the seven goals we scored so nothing else worries me."

Determined play
Belgium did manage to make it to half-time with just a two-goal deficit and coach Damien Knabben's words at the interval obviously spurred his team. They came out for the second half in determined fashion and could have forced their way back into the match just 30 seconds after the restart. It was to prove a pivotal moment in the contest.

Flowing move
All five of Belgium's first line, including the goalkeeper, touched the ball in a flowing move that took them from deep in their own half to a menacing position in front of the Ukrainian defence. The ball ended up at Kurt Gessner's feet with time and space to shoot, he did just that letting fly with a right-foot shot that fizzed just wide.

Koridze goal
That was to prove costly as Ukraine scored soon afterwards with the best goal of the game. Kosenko surged forward and played the ball to Volodymyr Deynega who in turn laid it off for Kosenko to make it 3-0. It was only a matter of time before the increasingly influential Serhiy Koridze found his way on to the scoresheet and he did so in fine style on the counterattack.

Time for consolation
A speculative shot from Deynega deceived the Belgian keeper to make it five on 34 minutes. At that point, Knabben called his men for a time-out and again his words seemed to have an immediate impact on his players, this time producing a goal. Karim Bachar scoring from close range to raise his team's hopes of a comeback. However, the Ukrainians went down the other end and made it 6-1 with an identical goal from Igor Moskvychov. Olexiy Kudlay wrapped up a convincing win with the seventh, but there was still time for Mustapha Harram to earn his side a second consolation with 20 seconds to go.

Intelligent opponent
Knabben paid tribute to his side's efforts but admitted they lost to the better side. "Ukraine won because they have a very strong team," he said. "Going into the second half 2-0 down I thought we may still have had a chance, but Ukraine play a very intelligent game with a dangerous counterattack."