Russia enjoy their clean sweep
Monday, February 3, 2014
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Vladislav Shayakhmetov, Eder Lima – who explained an unusual celebration – and Sergei Skorovich enjoyed Russia's 6-0 defeat of a Romania side optimistic for the future.
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Vladislav Shayakhmetov, Russia forward
We do have some weaknesses, but today we played well in defence and converted our chances. We scored three early goals and forced Romania to open up. The semi-final and the last part of EURO will show what to expect from us. All of our players try to do their work well and everything turned out to be lucky for us today. We did this ourselves.
There weren't any moments [when it seemed Romania were too weak to be in the quarter-finals]. There are no weak teams in the quarter-finals. It doesn't matter what the scoreline was, if we had won by a few or by many goals. Romania proved themselves a good team. They showed their ability in the group stage, they did it today from time to time, but we had the luck.
We have deeply analysed our opponents, we have watched their matches many times. We have been preparing very well and we were the better side this time. It's a double pleasure that we haven't conceded, a big bonus. Of course, it's great to score goals. Everyone is happy if can see his name on the scoreboard.
Eder Lima, Russia forward
We move on, step by step. Now we can think about which team we will play in the semi-finals, Spain or Slovenia. Romania didn't have any chances to win. It doesn't matter how many goals I score in the finals. The most important thing to win the EURO finals. I just want to be a champion.
[On his unsual celebration for the first goal] A Brazilian friend of mine told me that he wouldn't go to work today and he would watch our match. We asked me to send him greetings if I scored. He is a street cleaner, he sweeps streets. And that is what I did after scoring one of my goals. I pretended to sweep a street with a smile on my face.
Sergei Skorovich, Russia coach
We were very confident and played a good match, that's why we won by such a scoreline. The lads worked well to avoid the mistakes we made in the [4-4 draw] against Portugal. We played a very disciplined game, but I wouldn't say that it was ideal futsal. All teams make mistakes, but those who do this less win.
We have began the match very confidently and started to score goals. Romania tried to do something about this, but we didn't give them any chances. We were not looking to frighten our potential opponents. We just do what we need to do and don't begin to think what other teams think of us.
Nelu Stancea, Romania coach
It was an interesting game. We made many mistakes, which gave away too many goals. We have to be more aggressive in our play, more confident in ourselves and then I think it would be a different game. We have learned many, many things from this championship. We will take the good things and look to correct the bad things.
I feel good [about having been head coach since just before the play-offs in September when Sito Rivera resigned] because I have been together with the team for about ten years as assistant coach. I know the players very well, they are very good players and they have another few years left to play. We hope to qualify for UEFA Futsal EURO 2016 and the [FIFA Futsal] World Cup.
László Szőcs, Romania forward
I think we can play much better. We conceded the first goal very quickly, but I am a younger player and I hope in the future to play much better. I think we performed very well in the finals. We achieved our objective, which is very important for us. We hope to do even more in the next EUROs.
We look forward to each tournament, we are optimistic. We are a young team – we only started our team ten years ago and we have already been to three European Championships. We are now moving forward with Stancea, he knows us very well, and we trust his judgement.