Sporting complete perfect run

Sporting Clube de Portugal clinched first place in UEFA Futsal Cup Main round Group 3 on Thursday with a hard-fought 4-3 win against fellow qualifiers Clearex Chorzów. Elsewhere, in the three pools commencing, there were notable Group 2 victories by Araz Naxçivan and Skövde AIK and also successes for FC Marlène Kras Ster, KMF Marbo Beograd, FC Dorozhnik Minsk and CC LKW Jistebnik.

Sporting edge
Already assured of Elite round places thanks to victories against KMF Alfa Parf Skopje and FC Adana Yerevan, Sporting and Group 3 hosts Chorzów still had top spot to play for. Krzysztof Marzec gave the Polish champions an early lead but Davi and Deo struck late in the first half for Sporting. Marzel equalised but Chiquinho scored twice in quick succession to ensure victory despite Andrzej Szlapa reducing the deficit. Skopje took third place with a 7-3 win against Adana, Zoran Leveski the key man with five goals.

Split shocked
In Group 2, mini-tournament hosts MNK Split, the 2001/02 semi-finalists, opened against Azerbaijan’s Araz Naxçivan by taking a seventh-minute lead through Ivo Krezo. Petr Kapkov equalised but Zanata ensured the Croatian side a 2-1 lead at half-time. But, within five minutes of the restart, Vitaliy Borisov, Rajab Faraj-Zada and Namig Mammadkarimov had turned the game and Leandro Gomes then extended Araz's lead meaning Dean Banič's late goal only pulled it back to 5-3. It was then the turn of Skövde, usually a lower-league Swedish football team to defeat Athina’90 Athens 5-2. Johan Persson opened the scoring on four minutes and, after Anastasios Rentoumis was red-carded, Oskar Öst made it two and Oskar Nielsen claimed a third before the break. Stefanos Michalis pulled two back but Charbel Abraham and Persson cemented Skövde’s points. They meet Split on Friday while Athina face Araz.

Dorozhnik win
Group 4 began more as expected. Czech champions Jistebnik, hosting the group in Ostrava, gained a 3-2 win against Georgia's Iberia 2003 Tbilisi, who had failed to get past their opening stage in all five previous editions. Dorozhnik, who reached the last eight in 2004/05, then overcame tournament debutants and preliminary-round winners FK Nafta Mazeikiai 6-1. Jistebnik now meet Lithuanian club Nafta while Dorozhnik take on Iberia.

Comeback Marlène
In Romania, Beograd started Group 6 by defeating KMN GIB Beton MTO Zagorje of Slovenia 4-1. Milivoje Simeunović did give Zagorje a second-minute lead but Zoran Dimić immediately equalised, Darko Tofoski struck before the break and further goals came from Željko Borojević and Igor Šošo. The crowd topped 1,000 for debutants CIP DEVA's meeting with Dutch champions Marlène and within 18 minutes the hosts were 2-0 up through Ioan Tiberiu Magurean and Cristian Stancuta. But Sander de Zwart quickly responded and, in the second half, Anoek Roest and Cornelis Thies gave Marlène a 3-2 win to a generous reception from the home fans. Marlène now play Beograd and DEVA face Zagorje.

Deciders
Two further groups end on Friday. In Group 1 Kairat Almaty and Arzignano Grifo C/5 need only draws against KMF Partizan Sarajevo and eliminated Slov-Matic Fofo Bratislava respectively, while FC Shakhtar Donetsk and Futsal Club Gödöllö, already through from Group 5, play for first place. In the Elite round draw on 3 November, the top four seeds - holders Boomerang Interviú, MFK Dinamo Moskva, Action 21 Charleroi and Spanish outfit El Pozo Murcia will be in one pot, the six group winners in another and the six runners-up in a third, to form two pools of one seed, one winners and two runners-up and two sections of one seed, two winners and one runners-up.