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."
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS