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MY BEACH SOCCER 
The biggest teams in Groups A and B in these II Asian Beach Games have unequivocally stated in their matches today that they are heading for quarterfinals. Indonesia, Uzbekistan, UAE and hosts Oman have earned their three first points to head for the higher positions of their groups.
Uzbekistan opened this second matchday with a tight victory over Qatar (5-3). Al-Ishaq swept his side ahead, bringing an advantage in the score that Uzbekistan would be unable to level until the second period. But when Yusupov’s team finally found the way to Essa’s net, turned things around, making the score 3-1 thanks to the goals by Nazurallev(2) and Azizov . Again, Al-Ishaq scored for the Qatari, looking to get them back on the track, but there came Nazurallev to get his side two goals up again.
But Qatar were not to give up, and the hit exchange went on, with Alkuwari stretching the distance again, and Anorov dismantling their longing. There was a new stroke by the Last second stroke by Alkuwari, but it was not enough to go for the equalizer.
In the other game of the Group A, UAE played their role as one of the favourites and knocked Yemen down (4-7), mainly due to a 0-3 run during the second period. The game had reached that point with 2-2 on the score, but three hits by Ranjabar, Hassan and Basher almost ended the game. Just in case they hadn’t, Al Balooshi added his name in the game’s record with the sixth goal for his team, making the score 2-6. That had already thrown the Yemeni out of the road, and a couple of hits, one for each team, meant minor change to the score.
Indonesia snatched the first three points in Group B, after a solid victory over Kuwait (5-2). Mahayasa’s team got early in command of the game and would never lose this status until the final whistle, giving the Kuwaiti athletes no chance to even dream with a victory, and although the score got to a tight 2-1 by mid second period, Indonesia pulled the throttle to finish the game and make set their superiority clear.
Finally, hosts Oman made his appearance, making the 2.500 people in the stand crazy. The team responded to this huge support rocketing Syria down with an excellent beach soccer display that merits them the first place in Group B. The Omani laid the foundations of their emphatic win with a blasting first period, in which a 5-0 run in the first ten minutes crashed all Syrian expectations. Hilal Talib’s team proved why they are considered one of the best teams in Asia, bending their opponents with a wide range of actions, great goals, and smart moves.
Two goals at the last minutes of the second period softened the score a bit for Yemen, right after Al Balushi had raised the 6-0 on the scoreboard, but Bait Al Noobi managed the final hierarchic 2-7.
Matches for tomorrow:
Match Day Three (10 December 2010)
Match 9 – 15:00 – Japan vs. Lebanon
Match 10 – 16:15 – China vs. Palestine
Match 11 – 17:30 – Iran vs. Thailand
Match 12 – 18:45 – Bahrain vs. Vietnam
Photo: Getty Images
