ANTEQUERA – Yesterday Sunday 13 July, at midday, the Rector of the University of Málaga has officially opened the 14th World University Futsal Championship 2014. The Opening Ceremony started at 11:30 in the Fernando Argüelles Sport Venue with the raising of the Spanish flag and the parade of the 24 participating teams (16 men’s and 8 women’s). The German team opened the parade and the Spanish team, as the organizing country, closed it.
Once all teams were in position at the court the rector of the UMA, Adelaida de la Calle, the Mayor of Antequera, Manuel Barón, and Kenny Chow, CISCA Chair welcome the participants and wish them a competitive championship and, above all, a championship “where the values of sportsmanship and fair play are prioritized”, in words of the Rector. After the welcome speeches, the FISU Flag was raised while the FISU Hymn “Gaudeamus igitur” was played. Then, the captain of the Spanish women’s team, Isabel García, pledged the oath of the athletes and Francisco Miguel Peña pledge the oath of the referees.
Afterwards, the Rector declared the Championships officially opened until the next Sunday 20July at both sport venues Fernando Argüelles and the High Performance Athletics Centre. The Opening Ceremony, which was attended by the regional government representative in Málaga, José Luis Ruiz Espejo; the General Sport Director of the Superior Sports Board, Rafael Granados; the representative of Culture and Sports of Málaga Povincial Council, Juan Jesús Bernal; the President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation Representative, Antonio Escribano; the President of the Royal Andalusian Football Federation Representative. Eduardo Herrera; the President of the Spanish National Futsal League, Javier Lozano and the Vice-Rector of University Extension, Chantal Pérez, was closed with two brief performances of the Benalrítmica group and the entertainment group Travelling Producciones that led to the warming up of the men’s teams from Spain and Slovakia that played at 13 pm the opening match.
Opening Match
The Spanish team defeated (3 -1) the Slovakian team in the opening match of the 14th World University Futsal Championship played at the Fernando Argüelles Sports Centre.
The match began with the Slovakians closing up in defence. Five minutes had passed when Jorge Barroso broke the opponent’s defence and scored the first goal for his team. On minute 15’31’’, Filip Kovac parried to a corner of the Spanish Team, but Enrique Cánovas took advantage of this opportunity and scored another goal (2-0) near the end of the first half.
In the second half of the match, the Slovakian team changed its tactic into an aggressive one. The Spanish team sweated to take control of the game, and eventually they did. After several attempts, the takeover of the Spanish team was confirmed once again by Jorge Barroso who scored his second goal and the third for Spain. After this point Slovakia’s goalkeeper left his position and became a player. This led to an opportunity for Slovakia to score. On minute 16’04’’ Visvader Juraj scored the first Slovakian goal.
The game finished 3-1 making the Spanish team the first of its group provisionally. The opening match was followed by a high number of futsal fans both present in the venue and through online streaming via the website of the OC.
(Source: Alejandro Guerra Urbistondo, WUC Futsal)