Azzurri breeze into finals
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Article summary
Italy 7-0 Hungary (Agg: 11-0)
The European champions have comfortably qualified for Chinese Taipei.
Article body
European champions Italy have comfortably qualified for the 2004 FIFA Futsal World Championship after a 7-0 win against Hungary in Montesilvano.
Debut goal
The victory gave the Azzurri an 11-0 aggregate success and a place at the finals in Chinese Taipei next year. After a 4-0 win in Budapest last week, Alessandro Nuccorini's team scored just one goal during a balanced first half. It was a notable strike though, with Assad Fabiano celebrating his debut with a goal in the 13th minute.
Coach delighted
It was a completely different story after the break with Italy adding six more goals through Carlo Montovanelli, Fernando Grana, Edgar Bertoni, Fabiano, Daniel De Nichile and Adriano Foglia. Nuccorini said: "I want to congratulate Hungary because they made our life difficult in the first half of both matches. I'm really happy for Fabiano. He can be an important player for us in the future."
High hopes
The coach, who led the team to the 2003 UEFA European Futsal Championship earlier this year, added: "In the World Cup we don't want just to qualify from the first group stage. This team has no limits." Hungary coach Mihaly Kozma said: "I wish Italy all the best in the World Cup. My players gave their best but we could not do much more than this against such a strong team."
