Lozano sings Spain's praises

By Andy Hall

Spain coach Javier Lozano could not hide his delight at seeing his team retain their FIFA Futsal World Championship title with a 2-1 win against Italy on Sunday in in Taipei City.

'Worthy champions'
Goals from Kike and Marcelo ensured Spain were victorious and their 44-year-old coach, who has been in charge of the national Futsal team since February 1992, praised his side's attitude in Chinese Tapei. "I'm very happy for my players, above all, because nobody in Spain apart from a few people believed in this team," he said. "They have shaken off the tag of always finishing as runners-up and have shown themselves to be worthy champions.

Spanish bravery
"I was pleased with the way with which the team approached the game - we went out with only victory on our minds. I would also like to congratulate Italy for their excellent tournament but I think it showed that they were playing their first final."

Spirit of 2000
Lozano added that his side had displayed the same spirit as when they were first crowned world champions, defeating Brazil 4-3 in the final in Guatamala four years ago. "They have shown tremendous spirit," he added. "For the past month all the players have put in a lot of hard work and sacrifice and have been able to translate that on the pitch.

Individual excellence
"I was also pleased with the way our more individual players such as Andreu, Javi Rodríguez and Marcelo used their talent to the benefit of the group. The spirit shown by each and every player throughout this tournament has made the team believe in itself."

Falcão first
Top scorer, Brazil's Falcão was voted as best player during the championships, having scored a tournament-leading 13 goals ahead of Javi Rodríguez in second and Italy's Vinicius Bacaro in third. Brazil finished third after defeating fellow semi-final losers Argentina 7-4 in a play-off, helped by a Falcão hat-trick. .