Sporting Fingal EID 7-3 Nautara Kaunas (Armenia)




Sporting Fingal made it two wins in a row on Tuesday by defeating Nautara Kaunas in Lithuania and securing a place in the main stage of the UEFA Futsal Cup.





It's the first time that an Irish team has ever advanced from the preliminary phase and Fingal take their place in Group Three of the next stage alongside last year's semi-finalists Araz Nexcivan (Azerbaijan), FK Nikars Riga (Latvia) and hosts US Targu Mures of Romania.





Following a 5-3 victory over host club Nautara Kaunas in Monday's opener, the Irish side knew another win against Armenian Champions Kaghsi Yerevan 24 hours later would finish them top of the group.





The Irish side raced into a two-goal lead inside eight minutes through goals by Rodrigo de Melo and Anderson Nunes.





Despite Yerevan pulling one back before the break, Ross Zambra made Fingal's dominance count with a third goal before Nunes bagged his second of the game.





The Armenians then scored two goals in quick succession to narrow the gap but Hygo Cesar's brace in the last five minutes followed by de Melo's second of the game in the dying moments sealed the outcome.





Sporting Fingal EID squad: Marcin Fornal; Anderson Nunes, Rodrigo De Melo, Hygo Cezar, Isaias Lima; Ian Carry, Ross Zambra, Paul Fetherston, Helio Neto, Leandro Maia, Sergiu Musteata, Junior Da Silva (Player-coach).