Futsal star enjoys fleeting fame
– Futsal goalkeeper Christoffer Haagh swapped the five-a-side court for a full-size pitch to help a callow Denmark side in a 3-0 friendly defeat by Slovakia in midweek.
Failure to resolve a contract dispute forced the Danish FA to select a highly inexperienced squad in order to avoid possible reprisals from Uefa.
Instead of household names like Tottenham Hotspur playmaker Christian Eriksen who took Denmark to this year’s World Cup last-16, they had to rely on players from the third tier of the domestic league and futsal, a five-a-side game played indoors on a hard court with a heavier ball.
Little was expected of the Danes with all 11 starting players making their international debuts, but the loss turned out to be a moral victory for the unheralded team as the 31-year-old Haagh played the game of his life between the posts.
A goal by Slovakia’s Adam Nemec in the 11th minute could have signalled the opening of the floodgates, but a compact Denmark team defended bravely and were not breached again until Albert Rusnak scored in the 37th minute.
Roberto Mancini takes charge of his first competitive game as Italian coach in tonight’s Nations League opener against Poland in Bologna with the tough task of rekindling the nation’s love affair with their national side, decimated after the low of their World Cup fiasco. The Nations League – in which Italy will also be up against European champions Portugal in Group 3 – will have an impact on seeding for Euro 2020. And the 53-year-old has insisted that a key to his strategy was to bring in new blood after the departure of several veterans,
Coached by former Arsenal and Denmark midfielder John Jensen, the Danes looked well-organised and created a few goal chances of their own in Trnava.
Haagh was not beaten again until substitute Anders Foegt, a futsal-playing student, unluckily turned the ball into his own net in the 79th minute.
Unfortunately for the Danish players, their first caps may also prove to be their last as the FA is hoping to resolve the dispute and recall the big guns for the Nations League clash against Wales in Aarhus on Sunday. – AFP including goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, in the wake of Italy’s World Cup play-off defeat to Sweden last November.
Buffon’s exit has opened the way for 19-year-old AC Milan keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma (pictured). “We’re a great group, very young,” said Donnarumma at the team’s Coverciano training centre near Florence.
“We’re determined to bring Italian football back where it deserves to be. It’s our duty.”
Italy have plummeted to an alltime low of 21st in the rankings.
They were eliminated in the group stage at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, although they fared better at the European Championship, reaching the final in 2012 and the quarterfinals in 2016.
But Mancini said he wanted to focus on youth, with four uncapped players including Roma’s Nicolo Zaniolo, who is 19 and has yet to start in a Serie A game.
Italy’s Under-21 side reached the semi-finals of the 2017 UEFA Under-21 Championship, while the under-20s finished third at the Fifa U-20 World Cup in 2017.
“There have never been fewer Italians playing the game,” said Mancini. “Our use of Italians has never been so low, so we have to try something different. That’s why I’ve called up certain players,” he said.
“We’re trying to send a strong message. We’re convinced that those who play well at youth level can do so even at a higher level”.
One of Mancini’s first decisions on being appointed last May was also to recall controversial striker Mario Balotelli, for the first time since the 2014 World Cup.
The Nice striker scored in his first game – a 2-1 friendly win over Saudi Arabia – but the next two were a 3-1 defeat to world champions France and a 1-1 draw with the Netherlands. – AFP