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MY BEACH SOCCER 
Wins for Braga, Flamengo, Lokomotiv and Spartak keep the groups tight with all to play for on the final day
The second day of Mundialito de Clubes action saw two battles for the top spot of each group, as the first teams qualify and are knocked out.
Day two in Moscow’s Megasport Sports Palace witnessed four dramatically tight matches and a total of 38.
Llorenç bagged himself a hat-trick and Lucao and Antonio went a step further and netted four each – all in the same game!
Mundialito de Clubes day two got underway with an Iberian clash, where yesterday’s victors tussled for first place in Group A.
SC Braga 4-1 Levante UD (Group B)
There was a lot at stake when SC Braga met Levante UD in day two’s first match. Both had won the previous day, but Braga had been forced into extra time by a stubborn Domusbet Catania, and therefore sat on just two points while Levante had three.
They needed victory today to leapfrog Ángel López Torres’ Spaniards. Filipe, scorer of yesterday’s extra time winner, opened the scoring after four minutes, slotting away a cool one-on-one opportunity.
A good start gave the Portuguese side confidence to maintain possession and get away some dangerous shots. The looming figure of Dona between the Levante posts made some strong saves, but when Be Martins looped an unstoppable long shot, the net rippled once more and the advantage was doubled minutes before the first break.
As comfortable as Braga seemed to be, with some of the best players in the world lurking in the Levante ranks, the game was far from over. Three minutes into the second period, Edu Suarez took advantage of a rare defensive error to blast in his third of the tournament.
There was now just one goal in it, and as much as Braga pressed throughout the period, Levante kept them at bay.
The second whistle blew with all to play for in the final 12 minutes. The cross-bars rattled and keepers flew across the sand, but Levante just could not find that equalizing goal. Things got even worse for the Spanish when Be Martins found enough space to double his tally for the day with a low shot.
At 3-1, SC Braga now had a two-goal cushion to defend and with just five minutes on the clock, Antonio Torres’ men did their upmost to control upped Levante offensive. However, a series of errors from the Levante defense saw Filipe grab a brace of his own, pushing Braga still further ahead.
The scoreboard read 4-1, and with just a minute left, Levante scrambled across the sand to close the gap, but to no avail.
As the final whistle blew, the champions of Europe celebrated taking one step further to adding yet another trophy to their cabinet. Be Martins, scoring two goals and driving his side’s attack, picked up the prize of MVP.
With a place in the semi-final up for grabs, Braga will face BSC Lokomotiv tomorrow with the chance to top the group, while Levante will take on Domusbet Catania.
Goals: 1-0: Filipe, min. 8 (1); 2-0: Be Martins, min. 3 (1); 2-1: Edu Suarez, min. 9 (2); 3-1: Be Martins, min. 5 (3); 4-1: Filipe, min. 1 (3);
CR Flamengo 6–3 BSC Bate Borisov (Group A)
Having both suffered defeats on day one, the Brazilian and the Belarussian sides were adamant on victory today. A loss would almost certainly mean exit from the competition.
It was Flamengo who started on the front foot, and a fine bicycle kick from Stepliani slid just under the goalkeeper’s arm to open the scoring. Before Bate Borisov even had chance to regroup, he had scored again, heading the ball over the goalkeeper and stretching against the defender to poke it over the line.
Three minutes gone and Yauheni Haiduk’s men were already trailing by two goals and with an alert Andrade in the Flamengo goal, it was going to be some task to turn the game around. But the Belarussians were tireless in pushing for their first goal, and it came from the penalty spot when Kamsolov coolly converted.
However, almost immediately after, a deflected shot from Barboza cruelly restored the two-goal cushion and Flamengo went into the first break with the advantage.
A couple of injuries slowed the pace of the game towards the mid-way point, but when play restarted after a few minutes of treatment, Bate Borisov pounced to grab another goal.
Kotenev beat Andrade in a one-on-one to pull his team back to 3-2 but, yet again, the goal for the men in blue was swiftly followed by a reply from the men in red and black, as Alejandro tucked away a free-kick. Then three goals in the last minute of the period saw the score shoot up to 6-3.
Flamengo still had the lead but with so many goals flying in it was hard for them to control the rhythm of the game and Bate looked dangerous. Both sides created promising opportunities but, thanks to some furious defending from the Brazilians, the scoreline remained unaltered until the final whistle.
Playing a starring role in the match and netting twice, Stepliani was awarded the MVP award.
With their first win in the bag, Flamengo go into tomorrow’s must-win game against Sporting on three points, while Bate Borisov will go up against their star-studded hosts, BSC Spartak.
Goals: 1-0: Stepliani, min. 10 (1); 2-0: Stepliani, min. 9 (1); 2-1: Kamsolov, min. 3 (1); 3-1: Barboza, min. 1 (1); 3-2: Kotenev, min. 5 (2); 4-2: Alejandro, min. 3 (2); 5-2: Thyago, min. 1 (2); 5-3: Vinogradov, min. 0 (2); 6-3: Gil, min. 0 (2);
BSC Lokomotiv 9–8 Domusbet Catania *AET (Group B)
This coming together of Russian and Italy beach soccer royalty was a similar match up to the previous game of Flamengo against Bate Borisov, in that neither team had yet picked up any points, making today a must-win tie…
Effective defending meant that the score remained at 0-0 for the majority of the first period, with the goalkeepers keeping each other on their toes with long shots whistling just high and demanding some fine saves.
But with three minutes of the first 12 left, the deadlock was finally broken when Zurlo, the Italian international, fought to get away a shot and put Domusbet Catania in front. However, a reply came within a minute, when Antonio hit a low volley through the legs of the Ukraine goalkeeper, Sydorenko.
Llorenç then stepped up to take a dangerous free-kick for BSC Lokomotiv, and the Catania players looked nervous. But the Spanish number ten tried a cheeky chip which Sydorenko just got a hand to. A few minutes later Lokomotiv were given a second chance from a similar position, and Kryshanov buried this one emphatically, just in time for the first whistle to sound.
Antonio took his tally to two just after the restart with a fine free-kick, and the local side took a 3-1 lead as the second period neared its end and Catania were running out of time to mount a comeback.
Then Zurlo jumped upon a rebounded free-kick to poke home his second and the deficit was pulled back to just one with just a minute to go. There was still time for Antonio to burst down the left wing, flick the ball up and volley in his third of the day. The sides went into the final 12 minutes with the scoreboard reading 4-2.
As soon as the game restarted, Lucao blasted in a rocket from the right flank to bring the difference back to just one goal. Domusbet Catania may had trailed for most of the game but they were never far behind and it was clear that this one would go right down to the wire.
Antonio then impeded Lucao as he attempted a bicycle kick, gifting Catania a free-kick in a perilous position. After receiving some treatment Lucao stepped forward and buried the ball to pull the teams level.
Yet again, Lokomotiv hit back, and this time Llorenç got his goal stumbling the ball over the line to retake the lead. Catania had shown that they weren’t done yet, and Sydorenko fired a volley the whole length of the pitch past his opposite number to make it five goals apiece.
Then the Ukrainian keeper had a second shot and this time it took a deflection off the head of Bokach to take the lead. A minute later, a fumbled catch was pounced upon by Fedorov to brought the thrilling tie back to 6-6.
As the game spilled over into extra time the play became more frantic. Each team had already lost a precious point in such a close-fought contest and avoiding penalties was a priority.
Suddenly, disaster struck for Catania, when Llorenç found himself with just Sydorenko to beat and the goalkeeper pulled the Spaniard to the floor and was promptly shown a red card.
A keeper down, and a Llorenç penalty in extra time… The stadium held its breath as the number ten buried the chance. But another twist – Lucao struck straight from the kick off to level things up again!
The scoreboard said 7-7 with a minute to go. A minute, though, was all Llorenç needed to put away a free-kick and complete his hat-trick, which still wasn’t enough as Lucao scored a sublime overhead.
8-8 and just 20 seconds to go.
Penalties looked imminent but, with three seconds on the clock, Antonio hit number nine from a set-piece, and the match was won. In the process, he also earned himself the MVP of the match award.
Heartbreak for Domusbet Catania, who meet Levante tomorrow, but elation for Lokomotiv who face European champions Braga in their final group game.
Goals: 0-1: Zurlo, min. 3 (1); 1-1: Antonio, min. 3 (1); 2-1: Kryshanov, min. 0 (1); 3-1: Antonio, min. 8 (2); 3-2: Zurlo, min. 1 (2); 4-2: Antonio, min. 0 (2); 4-3: Lucao, min. 11 (3); 4-4: Lucao, min. 9 (3); 5-4: Llorenç, min. 9 (3); 5-5: Sydorenko, min. 8 (3); 5-6: Bokach, min. 5 (3); 6-6: Fedorov, min. 4 (3); 7-6: Llorenç, min. 1 (ET); 7-7: Lucao, min. 1 (ET); 8-7: Llorenç, min. 1 (ET); 8-8: Lucao, min. 0 (ET); 9-8: Antonio, min. 0 (ET);
BSC Spartak Moscow 4–3 Sporting CP (Group A)
Following their win over Bate Borisov earlier in the day, CR Flamengo had pulled level on point with hosts BSC Spartak, and a win today would see either team claim the top spot in Group A.
Neither side seemed willing to take many risks in terms of pushing forwards in the first period, quite happy to let the opposition come to them rather than give away unnecessary chances.
Some top saves kept the scoreboard at 0-0 throughout the first 12 minutes and going into the second, there was still all to play for. Preferring to take long shots from a safe distance kept the keepers busy, who exchanged regular warning shots between themselves, so much so that much of the period seemed more like a game of tennis.
But this couldn’t be maintained forever, and as the minutes ticked by, Sporting started to up the offensive. Jordan had a golden opportunity to break the stalemate and upset the hosts when he blasted a shot from close range forcing Parkhomenko to think fast and palm over the bar for a corner.
In such a close group, the three points would be hugely more valuable than two or even one after penalties. Still the opening goal eluded the match, neither side wanting to blink first and give the opponent a precious advantage.
Late in the second period, the breakthrough finally came, and it did so through a signature Zemskov free-kick, which he pounded past Elliot between the Sporting posts.
Then, with mere seconds left, Thanger beat Elliot in a foot race to the ball to slide it home for a second, and the hosts enjoyed a two-goal advantage going into the final period.
Sporting had it all to do in the last 12 minutes and José Fonseca’s men burst onto the sand like men on a mission, chasing down every ball and applying constant pressure on the Spartak defence.
But leaving the back vulnerable backfired as Novikov sent a swivelling shot into the net to make it three to the hosts. A minute later Belchior pulled one back from the spot to make it 3-1, giving Sporting fresh hope.
Then, out of nowhere, two absolute screamers, first from Alan and then from goalkeeper Elliot, cancelled out the deficit all together, and Spartak were suddenly back to square one after having been cruising just a minute before.
The lead was restored soon after when Zemskov rounded of a sumptuous piece of team play to volley in his third of the tournament. The game was suddenly unrecognisable from the tentative play in the first period.
It was this goal that would be the difference between the sides, as Coimbra had a last-minute header from a corner disallowed for shoving in the box during the build-up.
The hosts add to their points tally, sitting comfortably in first position in Group A, and qualifying for the semi-finals of the Mundialito. Tomorrow they face bottom of the group, Bate Borisov, while Sporting take on CR Flamengo to battle for the second place in the semi-finals.
Goals: 1-0: Zemskov, min. 1 (2); 2-0: Thanger, min. 0 (2); 3-0: Novikov, min. 10 (3); 3-1: Novikov, min. 10 (3); 3-2: Alan, min. 8 (3); 3-3: Elliot, min. 8 (3); 4-3: Zemskov, min. 5 (3);
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