Spain beat Brazil 5:4 in a penalty shootout and booked its place in the 2004 FIFA Futsal World Championship final yesterday. And in the days other semifinal action Italy beat Argentina 7-4 in the fist ever Futsal World Championship meeting of the two nations to secure a spot in the final against Spain tomorrow.
FIFA promised fireworks and the capacity crowd was not disappointed by the explosive action in the first of the days two semifinal matches between holder Brazil and competition favorites Spain.
PHOTO: AP
Both teams put more emphasis on testing and teasing their foe's defenses rather than looking for an instant goal in the opening minutes.
PHOTO: AP
The tempo picked up in the 10th minute after Spain's Limones blasted a long range shot over the crossbar and within seconds Brazil's Fininho replied with an equally explosive long-range shot that went wide.
An entertaining game of tit-for-tat followed with Spain attempting to break through along the wings and Brazil trying to exploit the center of the court. Neither team could capitalize on the few defensive errors that occured and both teams left the court at half time with the score standing at 0-0.
The deadlock was finally broken by Spain's Andreu three minutes into the second half.
After a superb solo run down the left wing the Spanish midfielder out maneuvered Brazilian keeper, Franklin and poked the ball into the far corner of the goal making it 1-0 to Spain. Brazil's Pablo equalized in the 26th minute with a close range shot.
Simi put the South American's ahead 2-1 in the 35th minute with a powerful drive from just inside the penalty area. Within seconds Spain's Marcelo restored the balance to 2-2, however, after he out smarted the Brazilian keeper from close range and snuck the ball into the back of the net. At the final whistle the score in the first of the semifinals stood at 2-2.
Extra time proved a two-way end-to-end carbon copy of the first half of regular time, with Brazil and Spain making the most of the few opportunities, but lackluster finishing and superb goal keeping denied either team a winning goal. The final score after extra time remained 2-2.
At four goals apiece after the regular penalty shootout Neto's less than perfect first sudden death penalty shot glanced off the woodwork and out of play. Spain's Andreu made no mistakes, however. He stepped up the spot and without hesitation put his teams 5th into the back of the net and secured Spain a place in the final of the 2004 FIFA Futsal World Championship.
"It was on this same date in 2000 that Spain beat Brazil to become world champions and used this to motivate the [players] before the match," said Spain's coach, Javier Lozano. "It was a tight match, but I think that the better team won."
Ataly 7, Argentina 4
In the day's second semifinal match Italy beat Argentina 7-4 in fast paced no-holes-barred goal-fest that saw the Europeans dominate much of the play. After a flurry of threatening play Vinicius Bacaro put Italy ahead 1-0 with a close range shot from deep in the Argentine penalty area in the second minute.
Fabiano increased the European's lead to 2-0 in the ninth minute and Bacaro scored his second and Italy's third three minutes later. By the time the half time whistle went Italy had a commanding 3-0 lead and looked set to meet Spain in the final on Sunday.
Italy's defense didn't faulter until the 28th minute when Carlos Sanchez netted a close range shot to make the score 3-1.
Italy capitalized on some scrappy play following a flurry of yellow cards and Andre Vicentini increased the lead to 4-1 in the 32nd minute. Italy's Adriano Foglia scored his first and Italy's fifth goal of the match in the 34th minute. Marcelo Gimenez pulled another goal back for the Argentineans to make the score 5-2 seconds later.
Bacaro scored a penalty in the 35th minute to put his team 6-2 ahead. Fernando Wilhelm pulled another back to make the score 6-3.
The closing minutes of the game saw Montovaneli increase Italy's lead to 7-3 in the 38th minute. Gimenez pulled yet another one back for Argentina in the 40th minute, but it was too little too late for the South Americans.
"It was a typhoon Italia," said Italy's coach Alessandro Nuccorini. "But, I was not happy to concede the goals."
When Paddy Dwyer arrived in China in 1976, crowds jostled to catch a glimpse of him and his companions — the first Western soccer team to play in the country. China was emerging from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and on the brink of market reforms that would take the country from economic stagnation to explosive growth. “All we could see was lines of people running beside our bus, trying to look in the windows, to see their first visual of a white person,” he said. “It was all bicycles,” he said. “There were very few cars to be seen.” Dwyer,
Jannik Sinner continued his quest to become the first man in history to win five Masters 1000 tournaments in a row with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danish qualifier Elmer Moller at the Madrid Open on Sunday. The world leader extended his winning streak to 19 matches, a run that began early March in Indian Wells, and he has captured 24 consecutive victories at the Masters 1000 level, dating back to the Paris Masters last October. Searching for a maiden title at this level on clay, Sinner advanced to the round of 16 at the Caja Magica with a 77-minute performance against
Some of Clearlake Capital Group’s largest investors are growing increasingly concerned about how much time the company’s co-founders are spending on sports investments as they have struggled to complete the fundraising for the private equity firm’s latest flagship fund. One of Clearlake’s co-founders, Behdad Eghbali, has been spending what some investors described as a disproportionate amount of time on the firm’s investment in Chelsea Football Club in recent months. Now, co-founder Jose E. Feliciano and his wife, Kwanza Jones, are nearing a record US$3.9 billion deal to acquire the San Diego Padres. That personal investment by Feliciano has set off the latest
A new NZ$683 million (US$404 million) stadium that was a symbol of Christchurch’s struggle to rebuild after a deadly earthquake struck the New Zealand city is to host its first match tomorrow in front of a sellout crowd. A magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed 185 people in February 2011 and toppled or damaged buildings, including the city’s old Lancaster Park. The stadium, which hosted international rugby and cricket, and was home to the Canterbury Crusaders, was badly damaged and never reopened. It was bulldozed in 2019 and turned into sports fields, leaving the Crusaders without a permanent home. Government funding for a new stadium was
RSS