Portugal cheered by Czech double

Portugal laid down a marker for November's UEFA European Futsal Championship on home soil with two comprehensive friendly wins against fellow finalists the Czech Republic.

Portugal win
In Tuesday's encounter in Santo Tirso, Orlando Duarte's side ran out 4-1 victors. Israel put Portugal ahead on two minutes and Arnaldo Pereira added a second five minutes later. Lukáš Rešetár pulled one back in the tenth minute but Joel Queirós made it 3-1 before the break and home captain André Lima completed the scoring two minutes from the end.

Comprehensive result
A day later in Gaia, Portugal were even more emphatic. Gonçalo Alves scored a hat-trick and Israel (2) and Miguel Almeida also found the net in a 6-0 win which stretched Portugal's winning run to nine games, and their unbeaten streak to 19. They have not lost on home soil since July 2001 against Brazil.

''Great team'
Duarte, whose team will join the Czechs in the final tournament draw on 12 May in Porto, said: "Our objective is to prepare for the 2007 European Championship and to improve our consistency. My team is creating more chances to score and that is reflected in our results. We have also improved a lot defensively as we have conceded about one goal a match during the past year. We have a great team with lots of quality players."