Third Samsung Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup:
By Alaric Gomes Senior Reporter
Gulf News .
Thursday, Nov 21, 2013
Dubai: Iran signed off their preliminary matches in style and top Group B with a tie-break win against winless Italy, while Mexico bagged their first victory at the Third Samsung Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup at the Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) late on Thursday.
Iran triumphed through the tie-breaker for the third time in this competition to top Group B, while Mexico rode on a hat-trick from Hugo Lopez for a 5-2 victory to hand Morocco their third straight loss in a Group A encounter.
Iran and Italy were tied 7-7 at the end of regulation three periods of 12 minutes each and extra-time of three minutes for the deciding shoot-out to be introduced. Michele Leghissa shot over and that was all that separated the Iranians from Italians.
Playing their third and final group match, Iran had secured tie-breaker wins against world and defending champions Russia and multiple world champion Brazil in the first two days of the competition. As per the rules, those two wins meant only four points for the Iranians, throwing Group B wide open due to both Brazil and Russia, who had lost one match each.
And there was no denying the Iranians a third straight win as Farid Boulokbashi and Moslem Mesigar both scored a brace while Mehdi Hassaninoozari, Mohammad Ali Mokhtari and Asia’s most prolific scorer Mohammad Ahmadzadeh got one each to ensure Iran ended with six points at the top of Group B.
Brazil and defending champions Russia were to meet in a crucial encounter later on Thursday night to decide the second team to qualify to the semi-finals from the group.
In the second match, a dead rubber, Mexico registered their first win in this competition with a 5-2 victory against winless Morocco.
Hugo Lopez netted a hat-trick while Abdiel Villa and Morgan Plata added one each to ensure full points, while the North Africans got their goals from Azzedine Al Hamidy and Abdel Kabir Moufakir.
Hosts UAE were to face Switzerland in a crucial encounter to decide the leader in Group A in the final encounter on Thursday night.
The semi-finals will be held on Friday, with Iran taking on the second-place team from Group A, while the winner of Group A (either Switzerland or UAE) will be up against the winner of the match between Russia and Brazil.
Entry to the competition is free and the first match will kick off at 4.45 pm at the DIMC.