In the women’s event, Belarus continued their good form with a three sets to zero victory over Russia while Ukraine earned a third preliminary victory, beating the US by the same margin.
Italy beat Argentina 3-0 while Japan downed Russia 3-0.
■SOCCER
By Dave Carroll
STAFF REPORTER
The US pulled off the shock of the Deaflympics men’s soccer tournament yesterday at Yingfeng Sports Park in Taipei when they rallied from 1-0 down to stun reigning champions Great Britain with a 3-1 victory, a result that put the US into the quarter-finals and left Britain to battle it out for ninth place.
Britain’s James Clarke opened the scoring in the Group A match in the eighth minute, but goals from Francis Neil, Matthew Eby and Angel Ortiz meant the US surprised nearly everyone by finishing second on goal difference, relegating the title holders to third spot.
Ireland took top honors in Group A after a 0-0 draw with Japan gave them five points.
In Group B, Germany had already clinched top spot. In the final group game, it was a straight knockout for second place between highly-fancied Iran and Spain.
With Alireza Basij running the midfield, Iran took the game to Spain early and it only took five minutes for them to grab the lead. Mostafa Heydaribondarabadi beat the Spanish defense on the left and crossed for Iman Mohebi Abkenar to poke the ball home.
Spain’s best chance came in the 21st minute when David Fernandez crossed from the left and Oscar Rodriguez’s header hit the post.
Substitute Mazaher Shirzad Sibani doubled the lead on 35 minutes after Basij beat a number of defenders before his shot was parried back to Sibani by Spain keeper Antonio Aznar.
Mohebi Abkenar wrapped it up in the 76th minute when the ball broke for him in the box and he slotted home his second.
In the afternoon’s matches, Russia finished top of Group C after a 6-0 win over South Korea, with a hat-trick from Nikolay Afanasyev. Vladislav Zorin, Marat Shirinyants and Vladimir Ivanov got the other goals for Russia, who face the US in the quarter-finals.
That result meant the winner of the match between France and South Africa would book a quarter-final against Ireland, and it was the French who came out on top.
After a goalless first half, France wrapped up the points within eight minutes of the restart. Roch Opina opened their account in the 51st minute when he bundled in a corner and two minutes later Malick Babo’s free-kick from 25m out curled into the top corner.
Captain Hakim Boughanmi made it 3-0 in injury-time, blasting in from the right side of the penalty area.
In Group D, Ukraine sealed top spot and a quarter-final against Iran tomorrow with a 6-0 demolition of Kazakhstan with Makar Bukin grabbing a hat-trick.
Argentina claimed the last quarter-final spot against Germany after a 3-0 victory over Denmark.
Ricardo Mestre Picon bagged a brace and captain Claudio Alvarez also scored.
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