Spain hit six in qualifying opener

European Futsal Championship holders Spain began qualifying in efficient fashion as they defeated F.Y.R. Macedonia 6-1 to open Group C in the Madrid suburb of Pinto.

Early yellows
The Macedonians also conceded six goals when they opened their campaign against Spain in 2003, although Vasko Skenderovski's side at least managed to register one in reply on this occasion. The visitors picked up three early yellow cards as they struggled to contain the holders, but their resistance was finally broken by three goals in six minutes midway through the first half.

Holders impress
Andreu and Álvaro put Spain in control and although Zoran Leveski replied for F.Y.R. Macedonia, Daniel restored the two-goal advantage. Álvaro grabbed his second goal and Javier Eseverri struck twice in the second half as the visitors, who had Goran Kirov sent off late on, wilted in front of the 3,000-strong crowd. In the other Group C game, Poland overcame preliminary round qualifiers Cyprus 8-0. Tomasz Kasprzyk put Poland two goals up at the break and completed his hat-trick in a second-half in which Krzystof Kusia scored twice.

Shock draw
The Netherlands, who qualified for the 2005 tournament, were surprisingly held to a 4-4 draw in their opening Group D game in Geleen by Azerbaijan. Eric de Jongh and Marciano Boumann put the home side in control only for Sarkhan Mikailov and Agatair Azimov to level. Antoine Merlino and Joey Ngarigota gave the Netherlands another two-goal lead but an own goal and late Azimov equaliser stunned the Dutch again. Earlier in the day, Serbia had begun their campaign in convincing fashion - Predrag Rajić scoring in each half in a 6-0 win against Finland.

Super Sluka
Czech Republic, final tournament hosts in 2005, began their campaign in Group E with an entertaining 6-4 defeat of Kazakhstan. Tomáš Sluka scored a hat-trick and Roman Mareš scored twice for the Czechs but preliminary round qualifiers Kazakhstan stayed in contention to the end with Yuriy Butrin twice finding the net. The Split crowd swelled to 1,500 for the second game as the hosts Croatia overcame Bosnia-Herzegovina 4-2. Croatia have not qualified for the finals since 2001 but two Duje Bajrušović goals instilled belief that they could be among the qualifiers for 2007 in Porto.

Romania rising
Two of the 2003 qualifiers, Slovenia and Belgium, began their campaigns in contrasting fashion in Group G. The home support in Lasko inspired the Slovenians to a 6-2 win against Moldova - Davorin Šnofl scoring twice in a seven-goal first half. However, Belgium were defeated 4-1 by Romania, one of the rising forces in futsal. Having already progressed through the preliminary round, Dumitru Stoica scored twice to underline their capabilities.