Iran rally past UAE to reach Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup final

Iran won a heart-stopping thriller against hosts UAE 2-1 to advance to the final of the Samsung Beach Soccer Intercontinent Cup on Friday.

Russia thwarted a comeback by Switzerland to win a high-scoring second semifinal 11-10 in extra time.

In a tightly contested first semifinal, there was an explosion of goals in the third period producing one of the most intense matches of the tournament being held at Dubai International Marine Club in Jumeirah.

The game went into the final period without a goal with the goalkeepers being called upon to make some important saves.

UAE got a free kick from an acute angle in the second period but was denied by P. Hosseini, the Iran goalkeeper who made an acrobatic save. Even a couple of rebound shots was stopped by Iran defenders.

The second period was also filled with more physical play as hosts and Iranians look more and more desperate to get the elusive first goal.

A change in keeper for UAE did not seem to affect UAE as Aljasmi played just as well as Humaid did in the first period.

The tension was palpable in the final period as UAE and Iran were still searching for the back of the net.

Both teams went into a frenzy only seconds after each other with two goals coming immediately after one another.

The first goal came at the midway point on a bit of controversial call, when two balls were on the pitch at the same time, Adil scored for UAE and the referee counted it.

Iran took the ensuing kick-off and put the bullet of a shot in the net through Ahmadzadeh. Kiana added another goal less than a minute later to give them the winning goal.

In the highest scoring Samsung Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup match ever, Switzerland was forced to play tied or from behind the entire match.

The 11-10 win in extra time for Russia sets up a dream rematch between Russia and Iran.

Their previous match ended 2-2 and went into overtime, when no goals were scored, and finally ended in penalties, with Iran winning.

Switzerland will be playing without their star Stankovic, due to a second period booking, giving him two, in their third place match against UAE.

The two European Beach Soccer giants made very few mistakes in an encounter which produced some amazing goals.

The men from the Alps may have looked poised to score first but the Russians were the first to get a goal when Peremitin struck a shot that got past the Swiss keeper Valentin.

The first goal created a flood of quick goals for Russia as they scored another two goals in less than two minutes to take a controlling three goal lead halfway through the opening period.

The Swiss bomber, Stankovic, nailed a shot that got past the Russian keeper and brought Switzerland back within two goals. There was just over a minute left when Stankovic struck again for Switzerland, but Peremitin for Russia scored his second goal only minutes before the period ended to put Russia up 4-2 at the break.

The score remained the same in the middle frame until Mo scored on a penalty kick to get Switzerland to within one goal.

Almost midway through the frame, Peremitin scored a hat trick to put his side up two, and some seconds later, Russia added another goal on a beautiful pass across goal from Krash that was then netted  by Eremeev.

Mo scored his second goal of the match late in the period to get his team back within two goals. The comeback was still not complete, but shortly afterwards Stankovic scored on a great header with less than 20 seconds left in the period to get a hat trick that brought his team within one goal. The score was Switzerland 5-6 Russia, at the end of the period.

The third period began with Russia getting the offensive opportunities but could not take advantage.

Three minutes into the final frame, Peremitin scored his fourth goal of the match for Russia and put his team up 7-5.

A direct kick goal by Russia was called off and that allowed Stankovic to take over. Halfway through the period, he scored his fourth and fifth goals one right after the other to tie the game for the first time since the opening minutes.

The world champions were determined to restore their lead and they did with a direct kick goal from Krash to go back up by one goal.

Shaykov scored his second for Russia to put his team back up by two goals.

Switzerland was still not done and they added another late goal from Borer to get back within one goal.
With just over 90 seconds to go, on their second free kick goal in less than a minute, the Swiss hit again, on a hat trick from Mo, to level the score. No other goals were scored as the match headed to extra time.

Just as the match seemed destined to penalties, tied in extra time, Russia scored two quick goals to make sure Switzerland could not come back again.

But the Swiss had different plans, as Stankovic netted his sixth of the match to get within one goal with 18 seconds left. It ended up being too late, though, as Russia held on, for good this time.

Results:

Brazil 5-3 Morocco (Play-off for 5th Place)

Mexico 4-5 Italy (Play-off for 5th Place)

Iran 2-1 UAE (Semi-final)

Switzerland 10-11 Russia (Semi-final)

Schedule for Saturday:

16:45 – Morocco vs Mexico (7th Place Match)

18:00 – Brazil vs Italy (5th Place Match)

19:15 – UAE vs Switzerland (3rd Place Match)

20:30 – Iran vs Russia (Final)


 

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