The first match of the day saw the Russians take control early and keep Italy from coming back
Russia bounced back from their semi-final defeat to convincingly claim third place in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup with a 5-2 win over Italy.
The defeat to hosts Portugal had ended Russia’s hopes of picking up a third-straight title but, far from being demoralised, they flew out of the blocks and looked keen to end their spell in Espinho on a high.
It took just three minutes for them to get the ball rolling, as Egor Shekov fired them in front. They were firmly on the front foot by the time the opening period came to an end, sitting three goals to the good, after Anatoliy Peremitin and Kirill Romanov added to their tally.
Even without the suspended figures of Dmitri Shishin and Yuri Krasheninnikov, Russia never looked likely to lose their grip on the game. When Peremitin and Poporotniy both struck a 13th win in 18 meetings with Italy looked assured.
The Azzurri rattled the post before finally making a breakthrough in the third period, with Paolo Palmacci and Simone Marinai both registering, but ultimately they had to settle with losing their unbeaten record (outside of penalties) here in their final outing.
(Source: FIFA.com)
