Nuno Dias and Kaká face off in the press room ahead of Friday's encounter out on the court

The Sporting CP and Ugra coaches and skippers were in the Almaty Arena press room this Thursday to fire the starting gun for the UEFA Futsal Cup semi-finals. Nuno Dias and João Matos for Sporting CP and Kaká and Aleksandr Kopeikin for Ugra, ahead of what promises to be a memorable encounter. Dias and Kaká both opened with a reflection on how they have been preparing for Friday's showdown.

Nuno Dias: "Preparing for this competition isn't that different to how we prepare for any match. Ugra play in a country with a lot of different time zones and are used to traveling a lot. It makes it a bit harder for us, while they (Ugra) are used to it. There is one other thing which I think is really important and that is the ability to use your whole squad for the whole season. Sporting CP can't do that because of regulations, so obviously we can't build up as many routines. That goes against us a bit, but thankfully in this competition we can put it right."

Kaká: "Unfortunately and like Sporting CP we had a league game at the weekend. There is a three-hour difference for us here as well, but it is nothing to worry about. We deal with the time difference a lot when traveling around Russia, so that is why we only came 24 hours before the game. The lads are used to it."

The pair were also asked what it is that will likely make a difference come the opening whistle on Friday.

Nuno Dias: "Some thing we can't control. Things like players one on one, set pieces or four against five, which I think will happen. Anything like that makes a difference. The team that surprises the other will win."

Kaká: "Three fouls by Dynamo resulted in three goals. In one of them a player turned his back and the ball went through his legs. That is the kind of thing we have to watch out for."