MFK Dinamo retain Russian futsal title
Monday, June 10, 2013
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MFK Dinamo shook off defeat on Sunday to wrap up a ninth Russian futsal championship with one game of their best-of-five title play-off series against TTG-Ugra Yugorsk to spare.
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MFK Dinamo president Andrei Gubernski said the hunger was as strong as ever after a 4-2 triumph over TTG-Ugra Yugorsk completed a 3-1 victory in the best-of-five title play-off series.
Dina,o looked set to coast to their ninth championship, and third in a row, after 6-1 and 5-1 wins in Schelkovo in the first two games, but a 4-2 setback in Yugorsk on Sunday revived TTG-Ugra's hopes. They were promptly extinguished in game four, Nando's goal at the end of an even first half setting Dinamo on course for a decisive success.
"We saw four matches of a great quality with a big number of chances and a solid display from both teams," said victorious coach Faustino Pérez. "The final game repeated the logic of the previous three: the team who scored first won." Indeed, Aleksandr Kopeykin's own goal put the visitors 2-0 up and though Neto replied, efforts from Fernandinho and Gustavo effectively sealed it.
"We won the title after the Russian Cup and also reached UEFA Futsal Cup final [losing to Kairat Almaty] – only a great club can achieve results like these," said Dinamo president Gubernski. "The emotions after the ninth title are as strong as after the first. It doesn't matter how much you win the league, it's always an honour. We'll give our guys a week off before we fly out for the Intercontinental Futsal Cup in US."
Further ahead, Dinamo will be aiming to win the UEFA Futsal Cup having lost the last two finals, just as they did when they claimed their sole European title in 2007.