Jakab hails 'fantastic' Romania

Romania were outsiders entering UEFA European Futsal Championship qualifying Group G in Slovenia. After all, the hosts and Belgium had both been in previous final tournaments and Moldova had won two of their three 2005 qualifiers; Romania, by contrast, only made their debut in that edition and had to come through the preliminary round this time around, having ranked outside the top 24 nations. Yet it is Romania who will be among the eight finalists in Porto this November.

Huge achievement
Coach Zoltán Jakab told uefa.com: "What we have achieved is fantastic. We have a very short futsal history, only four years, and there isn't any country which has qualified after such a short period." Qualify they did, though, starting with a 4-1 defeat of Belgium. "The Belgians have around 8,000 registered players, while we have only around 500," Zoltan marvelled. "From those 500, only 90 or so are professionals. We have almost no specialist futsal players, most of them having been playing in the second or third division of eleven-a-side football. And I don't have to mention our sporting infrastructure, which is a general problem in Romania."

Unexpected ending
Jakab's men did lose 4-2 to Slovenia in Lasko in their second match, but a win by the same scoreline against Moldova on Matchday 3 meant they would qualify on a three-way head-to-head if the hosts lost narrowly to Belgium - which they duly did, by 3-1, giving Romania first place. Not that Romania knew: they had already left Lasko by road for their 1,400km return journey in order to get home at a reasonable hour, not thinking Slovenia would slip to defeat. After they learnt the result, the team bus was caught in a speed trap, leaving the local constabulary confused as to the celebrations while a fine was being handed out.

Tight-knit unit
But perhaps that sums up the team spirit of Romania, who have grown as a squad together, and have now surpassed even the surprise progress of their champion club, CIP Deva, in this season's UEFA Futsal Cup. Jakab sais: "I have been head coach of the national team since 2003. We have played 60 friendly and competitive matches and, in 2006, I used only 19 players, 14 of them being present at these two qualifying rounds. So they have played together a lot. The Romanian Football Federation offered us a very good calendar of friendly matches, meaning we had the opportunity to test our skills and strengthen our game together."

Finals
However, with established futsal forces like Spain, Italy and Russia waiting in May's final tournament draw, Romania will need to find another level of performance if they are to compete. "We have to analyse what happened and what we have to do," Jakab said. "Not everything went well in Slovenia and we have to see what has to be improved. We are, obviously, on the right path, but we have to be realistic. This qualification is only a step in a long process of futsal development in our country."

Improvement
He explained: "First of all, we will have to revamp the domestic championship, to transform it in a very strong competition, without weak teams and with very good players, in order to produce as many top players as possible. We also have to improve player discipline and, of course, there are many other issues to be solved. Above all, it would be a big pity not to profit from this opportunity to develop Romanian futsal at all levels."