England 2-9 Romania
UEFA Futsal Championship Preliminary Round, Group B
Thursday 18 January 2007
Deva, Romania
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England's first UEFA Futsal Championship Qualifier ended in defeat to the hosts in the Municipal Stadium in Deva. Although the result is disappointing, it was not unexpected against professional Futsal players who are the group favourites to progress to the Finals in Porto later this year.

In front of a capacity crowd of passionate home support Romania dominated possession, with England defending deep and attempting to counter attack when possible. However Romania's skilful play and incisive movement provided them with a regular supply of chances.

England did however create opportunities of their own and Salisbury City's Alex Haddow scored his fifth international goal in seven appearances. It was not to deter the hosts who continued to pepper the England goal and scored at regular intervals. Keeper Graham Smith pulled off a series of excellent saves but could do little with the five first-half strikes that beat him.

England began the second half brightly with Bognor's Darren Budd scoring from a cross-shot. Romania were then kept at bay for a further eleven minutes before a series of defensive lapses extended the scoreline to 9-2.

England will need to recover quickly from this setback as they play Latvia on Friday evening. In the other group game on Thursday Latvia defeated Bulgaria 2-0.