Dubai: The UAE’s beach soccer coach was left highly impressed following his side’s fighting tiebreaker win against three-time champions and former two-time world champions Russia in a friendly match played at the UAE Football Association’s Al Khawaneej facility late Thursday.
The hosts led by an Ahmad Bashir goal in the first period, but Dmitry Shishin brought the teams on level terms midway through the second period. Ahmad Khalfan gave the UAE the lead a second time when he poked from close just before the end of the second period, but Kirill Romanov headed in a low corner early in the final period to make it 2-2.
Yury Krasheninnikov latched on to a defensive mistake to give the Russians the lead for the first time in the match, but Hashim Al Muntaser made amends for his earlier error by sweeping home the equaliser with less than two minutes remaining. Both sides tried to get a match-winner with the hosts coming closest in the final seconds, but Waleed Beshir’s shot was saved.
In the tiebreaker, the UAE converted all five kicks. And just when it looked like the match was headed into sudden death, Boris Nikonorov swept his kick wide giving the UAE a well-deserved boost to their build-up for next week’s competition.
“You will never realise the good such a victory against a former two-time world champion can do for a young team like ours,” the UAE’s Brazilian coach Gustavo Henrique Zloccowick (Guga) told Gulf News after the win late on Thursday.
“There are too many positives for us to take from this match, and we hope to continue building on these for the future, while trying to iron out the weaknesses so that we come out a well-rounded side by the time we play our first match next Tuesday,” he added.
The UAE has already played a couple of friendly matches against Ajman-based Sport 4 All, winning the first one 7-3 and the second one 8-3. After their tiebreaker win against the defending champions, the UAE will take on Hungary on Saturday before Guga announces his final list of 12 players.
The five-day tournament will open on November 1 with Tahiti playing Poland in the first match at 4.15pm, followed by the UAE versus Brazil game at 5.30pm. The third match will be between the USA and Iran at 6.45pm followed by the fourth game between defending champions Russia and Egypt at 8pm.
“Through our win against Russia we have shown that we are on the right path. We fought till the finish for the win, and even though we made two mistakes we stood up for each other as a team. We certainly take a lot of confidence from a result like this,” Guga stressed.
“This is only our second day in a proper practice session,” Russian coach Mikhail Likhachev explained.
“There are a few new names on the list and I was keen to see how these players are responding in match situations. We have a lot of work to do before we start the defence of our title here,” the Russian added.
The five-day tournament that brings together the best seven teams from across the globe along with the hosts, will be held at the Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) from November 1-5. The UAE will be joined by Brazil, Tahiti and Poland in Group A, while Russia will face Iran, USA and Egypt in Group B.
