Baranyai buoyant for debutants

By Márton Dinnyés

Hungary forward Pál Baranyai is a highly experienced international who more than played his part in helping his country qualify for the 2005 UEFA European Futsal Championship - their first major finals.

Goals galore
The 28-year-old, who has just left Csö-Montage BFC to join Gödölloi FC, has been a regular for Hungary since making his debut against Slovakia in 1997. He now has 40 goals from 70 national-team appearances but will hope to add a few more to that tally in Ostrava next week.

All for one
Baranyai said: "If the opposition forwards aren't good enough to break us down, then we are there to capitalise. This is where I come into it, but as a team we defend very solidly and everyone knows their responsibilities."

Several honours
Baranyai's career took off with Csö-Montage, winning four league titles and three domestic cups. He also had the honour of participating as the capital club took part in the first UEFA Futsal Cup competition in February 2002. At the finals in Lisbon, the Hungarian champions were not disgraced at all despite failing to reach the knockout stage, claiming a 6-1 victory against top Polish side Clearex Chorzów.

No stars
At these finals, and in a group featuring Italy, Spain and Portugal, Hungary will do well to match Csö-Montage's feat of three years ago. "We don't have star players, we are a team," said Baranyai. "We play for each other. We love to play for the national team and it's a great thing for us to take part in international Futsal as we all have other professions."

Closing the gap
Hungarian players may not have the absolute professionalism of their Group B counterparts from Spain or Italy, but they are certainly catching their rivals. Baranyai suggested that it was "team spirit which led us to the European finals". Who knows how much further it will take them?