July 19th and 20th in Linz, Austria was beach soccer heaven as four games between rivals, all decided by one goal, anointed a champion
In this 2014 Euro Nationscup in Linz, the national sides of Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Slovakia played four spectacular matches over the weekend, in a semi-final and final format. Germany took home the top prize after they narrowly defeated the Czech Republic on Saturday. It was the first match of the event and the difference in the final was actually less than a goal, as Germany escaped on penalties, 5(6)-5(5). The second match was won by the hosts, 5-4 over Slovakia.
Day two was fiercely competitive also and the home crowd was buzzing with the excitement of seeing their team play for the championship against neighbouring Germany. First, though, was the third place match between the Czechs and Slovakia. The Czech Republic rebounded nicely from their semi-final loss to triumph 4-3 over Slovakia. In the final match, The Wunderteam were unable to push over the visiting Germans, as Germany won again by the slimmest of margins, one goal, this time in normal time.
The nations were appropriately and diversely represented in the final awards. Germany took the podium as champions but that was not all. Below are the individual awards:
Best Player: Sascha Weirauch (GER)
Best Goalkeeper: Patrick Stummer (AUT)
Top Scorer: Martin Bocek (CZE)
