Cruel exit for White Bear

Entering the final night of competition, three sides were still in contention for the two qualifying places.

The first match pitched Roubaix against Dinamo Tirana. The French Team were debutants in this competition and despite creating numerous scoring opportunities went down 5-1 to the counterattacking Albanians led by one of the Tournaments outstanding players – Elvi Drizi.

This result meant that in the second match London White Bear needed to beat the Armenian Champions Yerevan Tal Grig. Under traditional regulations a victory by White Bear would place them on the same points as Tirana but ahead by one on goal difference.

However in the UEFA Futsal Cup competition regulations if three teams finish equal on points, the goals scored against the fourth team are discounted. The number of goals scored in the matches involving the teams in question are then considered. If they are still equal the results between the teams in contention are taken into account.

As the game progressed between White Bear and Tal Grig it became apparent that the manager and players of White Bear were unaware of this scenario.

Despite going behind within ten second White Bear rallied to dominate the match and went 2-1 ahead with three minutes to go with goals from Snigur and Topulo .

They were then convinced that they had done enough to qualify and backed off the Armenians - in contrast to the pressing game that had proved so successful all evening. White Bear retreated into their own half and ran down the clock.

At the end of the match the White Bear Players, celebrated - convinced that they had done enough to become the first English representative to progress to the later stages of this competition.

In the stand however the UEFA Delgates were consulting the competition regulations and with all four teams confused as to the final standings finally pronounced that Yerevan Tal Grig and Dinamo Tirana had secured qualification.

The manager and players of White Bear were understandably devastated by this news. As amateur players they had matched the professionals and semi professionals of Eastern Europe and had impressed the visiting UEFA Delegates by their progress following their opening night reverse to Dinamo Tirana.

An England Team has therefore still to progress in this competition but it is clear that England now has a team with the potential and players to do so.

Final Standings

* Dinamo Tirana qualify as having been the winner of the head to head match against London White Bear ( 2-1)