体坛英语新闻：Serbia beat Slovenia, Portugal tie with Belarus at Futsal Euro

BUDAPEST, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Serbia beat near neighbors Slovenia 2-0 in Group C while Portugal and Belarus drew 5-5 in Group D at the UEFA European Futsal Championships in Hungary on Friday.

Serbia's "Balkan derby" tussle with Slovenia attracted a large traveling support from both countries to Budapest.

The game was Serbia's opener in the championship while Slovenia suffered a heavy defeat to Russia on Wednesday and hence needed to avoid defeat to stay alive in the competition.

Scoreless at half-time after a tense first-half, the Serbs broke the deadlock through a Milan Rakic goal followed by a Slobodan Janjic goal which clinched victory and a berth in the quarterfinals.

Portugal were the last of the twelve participating teams to play, and were strong favorites to beat Belarus who were trounced 9-1 by Spain on Wednesday.

The Belarussians offered brave resistance though, making the match the most exciting of the competition so far.

Two-to-one down at half-time as they had been against Spain two days before, the Belarussians surged ahead 4-2 in the second-half thanks to a brace of goals by the impressive Aleksei Popov.

In a frantic finish, Portugal clawed their way back to lead 5-4 with seconds remaining, but a penalty converted by Popov salvaged a draw for Belarus.

Despite their plucky performance in Debrecen, Belarus will exit the competition unless Portugal lose by more than eight goals to Spain in the final Group D game on Sunday.