Group 3: No problem for Norilsky

Russian side Norilsky Nickel have won through to the second qualifying round of the UEFA Futsal Cup after seeing off competition from Portugal, Georgia and Latvia.

Decisive meeting
The first match in Group 3, played on Sunday, proved decisive for the whole mini-tournament as Norilsky triumphed 4-1 against fancied Portuguese contenders AR Freixieiro. The winners of that match were always going to be in the driving seat for the rest of the first qualifying round and that is how it panned out.

Tremendous start
FC Iberia 2000, representing Georgia, also got off to a tremendous start, winning 3-0 against their Latvian foes PFK Olimp. However, Iberia were brought back down to earth with a 4-2 defeat on Monday at the hands of Freixieiro.

Nine goals
That left Norilsky with the chance of clinching the group after only their second game, and they did just that with a 9-0 mauling of Olimp. That took them to six points and despite Freixieiro still having to play Olimp on Wednesday, the Russian team could not be pipped even if Freixieiro finished the group level on points. In the UEFA Futsal Cup, when teams are equal on points the result of their head-to-head meeting is used to decide their position in the final standings.

Drawn game
In Wednesday's first game, Freixieiro duly beat Olimp 3-1 but Norilsky could afford to draw 5-5 with Iberia and still take their place in the next stage of the competition.