Estonia and Moldova to contend place in Promotion Final

A tight win for Moldova, who remain unbeaten in the Euro Beach Soccer League so far this season, as well as a thumping victory for Estonia sees the two sides go head to head for a place in the Promotion Final.

Meanwhile in Group 1, Turkey edged a 12-goal thriller against Greece and Kazakhstan beat Lithuania to see each team sit on three points ahead of the final day of group matches, where anything is still possible…

MDA 2-1 CZE (Group 2)

Opening their Promotion Final account with a win yesterday, Moldova were out to bag a second win, retain their unbeaten EBSL run, and lay claim to a place in the final on Sunday.
But Borovička struck first, putting the Czechs in front early in the second period after a tense but goalless opening 12 minutes.

It was Ignat who turned the match around, scoring his second and third goal of the campaign to take the lead, which the winners of the Regular Phase stubbornly held on to until the whistle, handing Czech Republic their second defeat in as many days, knocking them out of the running for a place in the final.

Moldova, however, will play Estonia tomorrow and if they win only one more victory will stand between them and Division A status…

Goals: 0-1: Borovička, min. 8 (2); 1-1: Ignat, min. 7 (2); 2-1: Ignat, min. 7 (3);

KAZ 3-1 LTU (Group 1)

Lithuania shocked the Division A side Turkey in their opening match on Thursday, handing them a 3-0 defeat, while Kazakhstan suffered a loss against Greece and were in dire need of points going into this match.

Makutunovičius netted his third of the campaign to have the Lithuanians leading after just two minutes, but keeper Chornyy equalised in spectacular fashion before the period ended.

Perevyortov then scored twice, a goal in each remaining period, to seal essential points for the Kazakhs. Try as they might the scoring was over for Lithuania, as Kazakhstan defended furiously in the final minutes to clinch the victory with a two-goal cushion.

Their hard-won victory blew the group wide open ahead of Turkey’s match against Greece later in the day…

Goals: 0-1: Makutunovičius, min. 10 (1); 1-1: Chornyy, min. 4 (1); 2-1: Perevyortov, min. 10 (2); 3-1: Perevyortov, min. 1 (3);

TUR 7-5 GRE (Group 1)

Turkey desperately needed points in today’s match, and they hit the first goal of the Promotion Final struggle through Volkan early in the second game.

Triantafyllidis equalised for Greece but star striker Cem Keskin grabbed the lead back with a minute of the opening period left. Emrah Akyurt’s side then surged into a convincing lead as Efe, Semih and Omer took the score to 5-1.

The lead seemed to make the men in red complacent though, as Greece mounted and impressive comeback, spearheaded by Mikelatos who found the net three times.

Late goals from Cem Keskin and Baris eventually sealed the points, and Group 1 is now wide open, with each side on three points, ahead of the final group stage matches – you don’t want to miss them!

Goals: 1-0: Volkan, min. 9 (1); 1-1: Triantafyllidis, min. 2 (1); 2-1: Cem Keskin, min. 1 (1); 3-1: Efe, min. 8 (2); 4-1: Omer, min. 1 (2); 5-1: Semih, min. 9 (3); 5-2: Mikelatos, min. 8 (3); 5-3: Triantafyllidis, min. 7 (3); 6-3: Cem Keskin, min. 6 (3); 6-4: Mikelatos, min. 2 (3); 6-5: Mikelatos, min. 2 (3); 7-5: Baris, min. 0 (3);

EST 7-1 SWE (Group 2)

After winning against Czech Republic yesterday, Estonia went into Matchday 2 with confidence, but it was dented soon on by Kettler’s second goal of the campaign.

However, that was all the Swedes would manage in terms of finding the Estonian net and captain Kristian Marmor equalised soon after, and it was one-way traffic from then on…

Munskind scored for the second day running too, as did Lepik with a brace in the space of a single minute as Estonia took their final tally to seven, the biggest win so far in the competition.

Estonia and Moldova will face off tomorrow for the top spot in Group 2, and that all important place in the Promotion Final.

Goals: 0-1: Kettler, min. 9 (1); 1-1: Marmor, min. 7 (1); 2-1: Munskind, min. 5 (1); 3-1: Marmor, min. 3 (1); 4-1: Maeorg, min. 3 (2); 5-1: Lepik, min. 1 (2); 6-1: Lepik, min. 0 (2); 7-1: Alavali, min. 9 (3);

For full details on the EBSL Superfinal and Promotion Final, including fixtures, results and standings, head to beachsoccer.com.