Czech Republic find scoring boots

The Czech Republic are in goalscoring form ahead of the UEFA European Futsal Championship after twice defeating Malta 11-0 in their last games before the finals in Porto from 16-25 November.

Work-out
Although Malta are not one of the continent's prime forces, they have an experienced coach in Michal Stříž, who led the Czech Republic in the last FIFA Futsal World Cup and European Championship final tournaments. So it was a good work-out for the home side, who were keen to bounce back from last month's defeat by Poland in the Hodonin tournament, and coach Tomáš Neumann was able to try out a number of candidates for his 14-man finals squad.

Comfortable win
In the first game in Kladno, Roman Mareš, Martin Dlouhý and Lukáš Rešetár scored in the opening four minutes. By half-time it was 7-0 as David Fric added another, Zdenek Sláma struck twice and Roman Mareš claimed his second. His brother Michael Mareš scored within a minute of the break, Roman completed his hat-trick and Petr Vladyka and Jiří Novotný took the tally into double figures.

Second victory
Two days later in Havlickuv Brod, it was 6-0 at half-time after a Martin Dlouhý hat-trick, two goals by Michael Mareš and another from Tomáš Šluka. Michael Mareš's own treble was complete in the 22nd minute and Pavel Formánek, Sláma, Novotný and Rešetár found the target late on, meaning nine of the 13 outfield players used in the two-game series scored at least once. The Czech Republic begin their Group A campaign in Porto against Romania on 16 November and also meet hosts Portugal and Italy.