KaDy/Students overcome Swiss challenge and proceed to top 10
20.07.2012
On Thursday evening, KaDy/Students overcame the challenge brought by the University of Geneva (Switzerland) in the positions 9-12 playoffs. While the game on the whole was nowhere near as hot or intensive as the last two group-stage matches, the better one of the two participating Swiss side certainly brought a sportsmanlike test for the Finns, and in spite of indisputable moments of possessive control by Dynamo, the final score was no more than 3-2 (0-0).
KaDy/Students (FIN) - Université de Genève (SUI) 3-2 (0-0)
26. Tomi Lahtinen (Matias Juvonen) 1-0
34. Jukka Kytölä (Mikko Kytölä) 2-0
39. Genève 2-1*
40. M. Kytölä (J. Kytölä) 3-1*
40. Genève 3-2*
*) goals scored during the Swiss' 5 vs. 4 powerplay
'Bad Pillow Night' at Hotel
As the top 8 positions slipped away narrowly due to Wednesday evening's defeat, KaDy/Students decided to skip their usual morning workout in order to create some more free time to explore the mediaeval city of Córdoba. The less professional preparation notwithstanding, the poor man's semifinal began promisingly, as the 'carousel' (a.k.a. 'mill') so familiar from the Finnish futsal league games from last season went round-and-round-and-round (and-round) virtually forever in the Swiss end of the court. But the result: zero góles.
Due perhaps to KaDy/Students' bad pillows at their hotel, the tempo slowed down remarkably, giving the Genevans continuedly enough time to settle their defensive square. The latter half and the early phases of the second half were played in slightly more even terms, but neither side managed to score until the 26th minute, when Matias Juvonen assisted neatly to his regular left-footed 'line-mate' Tomi 'Splash' Lahtinen, who scored the liberating first goal. Six minutes from the final whistle, Jukka Kytölä scored another goal, and the game seemed destined for Finnish victory (a.k.a. the Mourinhoan best team won).
It was only a couple of minutes before the end that the Swiss began to utilize a flying goalkeeper in order to create 5 vs. 4 power play. Whilst that Swiss set piece was poorly organized and confusing, they managed to score twice in front of Enrico Hytönen's goal, breaking the tired Dynamo's usually-so-solid square defense. Fortunately, the latter Swiss goal saw the light of the day only a few seconds before full time, before which the Kytölä brothers had also found the space to plot the ball in the Genevan net with a routinely despatched counter-attack. Thus the Finnish victory was hardly ever questioned in spite of a mild panic and fear of penalty shoot-out in the last seconds.
Saturday Night Fever with 'Black Panthers'
While Geneva were certainly not as solid futsalistas as the tournament's quarter-finalists (or KaDy/Students), two things merit a mention here for their praise. First, their number 11, Andres Vallejo, was a rather fantastic player, and not surprisingly it turned out after the game that he is also part of the national team roster. Beautiful moves from that boy! Second, the Genevans were - both inside and outside the court - certainly the number one fair play team KaDy/Students have encountered during their Euro-trips. Respect and good luck to them!
Dynamo's ultimate challenge remains the final game for positions 9-10, where the Finns will meet the University of Cologne's 'Futsal Panthers'. Rumour has it that the Germans have improved enormously from previous years, and will probably be a tough opponent to beat. Like KaDy/Students, they had a hard group draw, being eliminated from top tier by last year's champions Valencia and the Portuguese Minho, possibly the best side in the competition thus far.
The semifinalists in men's tournament are:
University of Córdoba (Spain)
University of Minho (Portugal)
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (Georgia)
Siberian Federal University (Russia)
Saturday, 21 July, 21:00 (Finnish time)
University of Jyväskylä (Finland) - Universität zu Köln (Germany)
KaDy/Students on Thursday
Hytönen (gk)
+
M. Kytölä (C)
J. Kytölä
Takala
Tolvanen
Huhtanen
Kinnunen
Lahtinen
Mäkiniemi
Juvonen
Management: Kelhälä, S. Kytölä, Kaihlajärvi
Player statistics from Córdoba 2012
J. Kytölä 3+5
Lahtinen 3+3
M. Kytölä 2+2
Juvonen 1+2
Huhtanen 1+0
Mäkiniemi 1+0
Tolvanen 1+0
+
Hytönen: 4 games
Kinnunen: 4 games
Takala: 4 games
Kaihlajärvi: 1 game
S. Kytölä: 1 game
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