Dinamo and Kairat bid for bronze again

Twelve months ago, MFK Dinamo Moskva defeated Kairat Almaty 5-0 to take third place in the UEFA Futsal Cup. Those sides meet again for the same prize on Sunday in Ekaterinburg.

Semi-final losses
Last year Dinamo were staging the finals as defending champions, but it was against this season's holders and hosts, MFK Viz-Sinara Ekaterinburg, that the Moscow side lost 2-0 on Friday night in an all-Russian encounter. Immediately before that game, Kairat had been overwhelmed 5-0 by Spain's Interviú Madrid to follow previous semi-final defeats by Dinamo in 2006 and Ekaterinburg last year.

Rudnev reflects
Dinamo, who reached three consecutive finals from 2004 before taking the trophy at the third attempt, were disappointed not to make it that far this time. They conceded twice in the last five minutes against Ekaterinburg, a game in which they were the better side in the second half, kept out only by a superb goalkeeping display by Sergei Zuev, before the hosts struck. "We did not play to the level we should have," said Dinamo coach Yuri Rudnev. "Yes, their goalkeeper had a great match but it was us that played a poor one."

European return
Rudnev's side, who will be without the suspended Joan on Sunday, will only be back for a seventh consecutive UEFA Futsal Cup campaign next season if they overhaul Ekaterinburg's nine-point Russian Super League lead, or if Viz beat Interviú and Dinamo are domestic runners-up behind their rivals. Kairat will definitely return in 2009/10, having clinched their sixth straight Kazakhstan title, but coach João Carlos Barbosa admits their dominance at home is a double-edged sword when it comes to entering European competition.

Improvement
"We need to prepare to perform at a higher level," Barbosa said. "In our league only two or three teams are really competitive so we need to improve our standard, maybe with a longer preparation period against other international clubs."