Magic boots help Czechs down Hungary

A change of boots paid dividends for the Czech Republic's David Frič as the Czech Republic secured a shock 6-5 win against Hungary, with coach Tomáš Neumann saying it was "one of the best nights of my career".

Dramatic finish
At 4-0 down midway through the second half, the Czechs looked dead and buried, but coach Neumann switched to all-out attack, playing Marek Kopecký and then David Frič as flying goalkeepers to devastating effect. They took a 5-4 lead, lost it in the last minute to a Zsolt Gyurcsányi strike, but found a winner with 19 seconds left as Kopecký headed home a loose ball.

Magic boots
Frič, Hungary's tormentor in chief, was wearing one white shoe and one yellow as he looked to lift the goalscoring curse that he felt had struck him in his side's 5-1 opening defeat against Russia. "I switched my shoes because in the last match I hit the woodwork twice, so I wanted to change something," he told uefa.com. "It worked, because I scored today.

'Power play'
"It was going very badly for us," Frič added. "Hungary were playing very well. They had a lot of chances to score and were winning 4-0. It was bad but we hoped we could change the score on the power play. It is a strong part of our game. We have played many games when we were losing 3-0 or 4-0 and came back, so we always had hope."

'A thriller'
"It's one of the best nights of my career," said coach Neumann, who added: "It was a thriller but that why I really like futsal; even at 4-0 down it's not over. When we scored our third and it went to 4-3, I started to believe that maybe we could win. It was an excellent game; a great advert for futsal. Our fans are happy but everyone in Hungary also got to see a great game."

Hungary overrun
It is a game that Hungary coach Mihály Kozma will not enjoy watching again; his side shredded the Czechs in the first half and were marching to victory until the switch to a flying goalkeeper – and more specifically the switch from Kopecký to Frič as flying goalkeeper – exposed the limitations of his defence. However, he said defiantly: "We have a future. I won't resign."

Five-man system
Asked whether, 2-0 up at half-time, his players though the match was won, Kozma replied: "No, they didn't and me neither." However, he could not deny that the switch to a five-man attack had totally floored his team. "The Czechs have been mastering this five-man system for years; we knew it but we could not deal with it. We are sorry because we wanted to play in Debrecen."

'Bigger pool'
As it is, it will be the Czechs who travel to the Fönix Arena for the quarter-finals on Monday, where they will face Group B winners Italy. All Kozma could do was hope that the tournament would have positive, long-term effects for futsal in Hungary. "A lot of kids have been here to watch games and a lot of people have seen how exciting futsal is," he said. "We can only hope that in the future we will have a bigger pool of players to choose from for the national team."