Hungarian joy after close finish

Hungary have caused a surprise by knocking out Croatia to take a place in the play-offs for the FIFA Futsal World Championship.

Close finish
The Hungarians finished in first place after victories against the Croatians and Armenia in Group 8. The mini-tournament was held in Gospic and was one of the closest of all ten being played.

Jarni opener
Croatia got off to a flying start with a 9-2 victory against the Armenians, with former international footballer Robert Jarni scoring after just two minutes. Matija Dulvat was the main threat though, scoring a hat-trick for his side. To make matters worse, Armenia's Tigran Petrosyan was sent off two minutes before the end.

Baranyai treble
Armenia were then beaten 5-2 by the Hungarians. Gábor Pál Baranyai started and finished the scoring for Hungary with his hat-trick giving them every confidence of success in the showdown with Croatia.

Dramatic finale
The final match saw an upset in the decisive meeting between the top two. Croatia took a two-goal lead inside eight minutes through Robert Grdovic and Sandro Salacan but Hungary then scored five times without reply. Balázs Simon led the way with a quick-fire hat-trick but Croatia refused to lie down. Krešimir Civrag and Ivica Osibov cut the gap in the 30th minute but Hungary were to score two more to Croatia's one to finish with a 7-5 victory.