Nuccorini basks in job well done

Italy coach Alessandro Nuccorini was counting the positives as his team strolled past the Czech Republic to finish top of UEFA European Futsal Championship Group A and earn a semi-final on Friday against Russia. By contrast, his opposite number Tomáš Neumann could see no bright side to a campaign that ended with three defeats.

Alessandro Nuccorini, Italy coach
We are happy with the victory and we are pleased to have qualified as group winners. It was good that we have only conceded one goal in three games. In these kind of games things can change quickly but we had the right attitude. Now we will meet Russia again, the team that beat us two years ago. We have had many injuries, the players are in good condition but not quite at the top of their game. We will now analyse the situation and find some solutions. Against Russia I think that we don’t have to be just strong to win, we need a bit of luck and a strong mentality.

Tomáš Neumann, Czech Republic coach
We had a big problem because we cannot score goals. I don't know why. The only positive is that we qualified at all. I hope we can now qualify for the [FIFA Futsal World Cup] in Brazil.