Portugal confirm semi-final spot

Hosts Portugal swept aside Romania in their final Group A match to book a semi-final date with Spain in the UEFA European Futsal Championship.

Simple finish
Two predatory strikes from Ricardinho and a header from Leitão ensured they advanced to the knockout stages and ended the tournament for finals debutants Romania who showed tremendous work ethic but lacked a cutting edge in attack. Portugal take on the holders here on Friday in their first-ever semi-final.

Counterattack
With Romania hardly having touched the ball the hosts, cheered on by a capacity crowd, took advantage of some slack marking with Ricardinho slotting home after ghosting in at the far post. Portugal were dominating the match but, on their rare forays into the hosts' territory, the visitors looked dangerous with the pace and guile of Loband Szöcs always a menace.

Ricardinho class
Any hopes Romania had of securing a semi-final berth were ended midway through the second half when Ricardinho, easily Portugal's most influential player, turned in Arnaldo's centre to send the home fans wild. Leitão completed the victory with an opportunist header after Romanian keeper László Klein pushed forward in search of an elusive goal for the visitors.