Italians make it two from two

Vinicius Bacaro was the inspiration as Italy stated their intent in the 2003 UEFA European Futsal Championship with an assured display against the Czech Republic.

Extra spice
Bacaro scored a goal in either half to finally kill off the Czech challenge and give Italy their second win of the championship in front of an enthusiastic crowd in Caserta. Both teams had enjoyed wins in their opening Group A games adding extra spice to tonight's fixture but the Czechs were always going to struggle without injured captain Roman Mareš.

Spectacular finish
The Czech's matchwinner against Russia yesterday was Vit Blazej and he actually opened the scoring in this encounter. He found the net after just four minutes with a spectacular finish following a swift Czech counterattack.

Great support
From then on though it was a tale of Italian dominance. Marcio Moratelli drew Alessandro Nuccorini's men level with a powerful shot on nine minutes before Luca Ippoliti put the Italians in front for the first time on 14 minutes with a free-kick. That goal was just what the 3,500 home fans came to see and they roared their approval.

Clinical mood
Bacaro then took over to move the match out of the Czechs' reach. Although he was thwarted time and time again in yesterday's triumph against Slovenia, the No7 was in clinical mood here. His first came two minutes before half-time after a goalmouth scramble with the ever-dangerous Adriano Foglia.

Fine form
The Czechs then made a good fight of it for eleven minutes of the second half, but both sides struggled to string passes together. Carlos Mantovanelli was in fine form and showed some excellent touches before a probing pass across the pitch nearly led to a goal for Foglia.

Resistance broken
It was, on the whole, an even period in the game but it was not too long before Bacaro broke Michal Stríz's men's resistance with his second of the night. This time he found the net with an unstoppable long-range left-foot shot.

Favourites to progress
There was still time for Mantovanelli to hit his second goal of the competition in the 36th minute and it was well deserved. Italy have made themselves overwhelming favourites to top the group, a fact which pleased coach Nuccorini.

Great satisfaction
"Despite this being our second win, we haven't yet secured qualification to the semis," he said. "It's a great satisfaction to have achieved this victory by such a wide margin and it has certainly given the team a boost. But i must say that the way the Czechs play is a great promotion for the game of Futsal and only increases the popularity of the game."

Coach satisfied
His opposite number looked on the bright side of defeat. "Despite letting in five goals I'm satisfied with the way we performed," said Striz. "We didn't manage to achieve the same level of play as we did against Russia."