Invincible Italy crowned champions

By Greg Demetriou

Italy have won the 2003 UEFA European Futsal Championship thanks to a solitary goal from Vinicius Bacaro against Ukraine.

Deserved win
The elegant left-footed player had threatened to score all night with a host of efforts from seemingly every angle. However, with just over ten minutes left the Lazio C/5 player came up with the goal Alessandro Nuccorini's youthful side's attacking play deserved.

Free-kick goal
The chance came about after the blond-haired Edgar Bertoni was fouled by Georgiy Melnikov 12 metres out in a central position. Andrea Vicentini stood over the ball for the free-kick but ran past at the last minute, leaving Bacaro to step up and shoot low to the goalkeeper's left.

Dance of delight
The goal was greeted with wild celebrations among the 6,000 fans gathered at Palamaggio in Caserta. Italian goalkeeper Gianfranco Angelini, as much of a hero as any of the outfield players, even joined Bacaro for a dance of delight in the centre circle. Ukraine, beaten finalists in the 2001 championship, had failed again at the last hurdle. Italy, meanwhile, had won all five of their games conceding just three goals in the process.

Electric atmosphere
The match was played in an electric atmosphere following a rousing rendition of both national anthems. Ukraine had seemed in confident mood at the beginning, and kept possession for nearly a minute from the kick-off culminating in an Igor Moskvychov shot. However, such opportunities were to prove few and far between.

Unique approach
Italy were soon in the game with Bacaro the first to try his luck, indicative of his shoot-on-sight policy throughout this eight-team tournament played in Caserta and Aversa, near Napoli. Ukraine were adopting a unique approach, with regular line changes of four players at at time, but it perhaps cost them momentum in the game.

Koridze denied
While Marcio Moratelli and Edgar Bertoni saw brilliant efforts tipped to safety by Vladyslav Kornyeyev, Ukraine were struggling to find any openings. Bacaro also had his moments but competition top scorer with seven goals, Serhiy Koridze seemed unable to get open at any time for the eastern Europeans.

Difficult conditions
However, Gennady Lysenchuk's men will have been delighted to reach the interval with the scores level. The Mexican wave and incessant drum beat that filled the arena during half-time suggested his team would face a difficult atmosphere in the second period. Whenever Ukraine got the ball, loud whistles filled the air, making it hard for passes to find their target and players to relax on the ball.

Captain marvel
As in the 2-1 semi-final defeat of former champions Spain, Italy captain Salvatore Zaffiro was in inspirational form. The Italians worked hard to deny the Ukrainians the space their counterattacking game relies on while the pressure of the situation saw them unusually concede possession.

Angelini the ace
Koridze, always a willing player, could have equalised seconds after Bacaro's goal but found Angelini in his way as he shaped to shoot from inside the penalty area. Koridze was getting more time in the action as time ticked away as was Melnikov as a fifth attacker for Kornyeyev. It led to a chance for Ukraine captain Olexandr Kosenko but again Angelini was in the way.

So close
With the goal empty and just 59 seconds to go, Carlos Montovanelli could have made sure but, to the agony of most of the crowd, his lofted shot went just wide. It did not matter though, with Bacaro's goal proving enough to allow Italy to follow in the footsteps of Russia in 1999 and Spain in 2001.