Debutants Hovocubo and Eden both win
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
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Dutch club Hovocubo made a fine debut as they and preliminary round Group A hosts Eden Futsal both won in Dublin on the opening day of the competition.
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Dutch club Hovocubo made a fine UEFA Futsal Cup debut as both they and preliminary round Group A hosts Eden Futsal won in Dublin on the opening day of the European season.
Hovocubo were facing Wrexham Futsal Club, making their second appearance in Europe, and within four minutes Johannes Reus had the newcomers' first goal. Karim Ajnane added another shortly afterwards, and he scored twice, as did captain Amir Molkarai, the stand-out creative player along with Makraou Youssef.
It was tighter in the second game as Irish side Eden beat Istanbul Üniversitesi SK 4-2. Enes Bayraktar turned in a corner for Istanbul in the second minute but Rafael Souto levelled before half-time and in the last five minutes Joel Rocha, the outstanding Rafael Rodrigues and player-coach Rodrigo de Melo put Eden in control before Onur Mengi's consolation.
On Wednesday Hovocubo take on Istanbul and Eden play Wrexham, while five of the other seven mini-tournaments begin in Sarajevo, Bielsko Biala, Nicosia, Schwaz and Zagreb.
Reporter: Ronan Farrelly