Russia claim Group C as first stage nears its close

Eleven teams have now confirmed their place in Jesolo’s second group phase

Two-time FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup winners Russia ensured progression to the next stage of qualification as champions on Monday while Greece, Switzerland, Poland and Spain joined them by guaranteeing a top-two finish.

Group C

Russia sealed first place with a hard-fought 6-3 win over second-place Germany, progressing to the next stage of qualification as pool winners.

Germany trailed the world’s second-ranked side by a point going into the contest and battled back from 3-0 down to within a goal thanks to Olli and Kniller. 

But Russia survived the mini-fightback, as braces from Paporotnyi and Romanov helped to wrap up the points.

Kazakhstan salvaged third with their 3-1 win over Norway, condemning the Scandinavians to bottom place.

Neither side had picked up a point before Monday’s clash but Tyulpa, Yearly and Abdrassilov settled a low-key encounter.

Group D

Switzerland booked their place in the next phase after easing to a 10-0 win against Netherlands in captain Mo’s 300th international appearance.

The Swiss collected their second win and ensured a top-two spot along with Greece, whom they face in the group finale on Tuesday.

Netherlands and Lithuania – now both eliminated – will battle to finish third in the group after the latter suffered a 4-1 loss to Greece.

With one game remaining in their group campaign, the Greeks are guaranteed a top-two finish as Kafantaris, Thomas, Lignos and Komiotis helped deal with an early setback from Pelakauskas to ensure a routine success.

Group E 

Spain successfully avoided an upset by beating Estonia 4-0 and guaranteeing a top-two finish in Group E.

The 2013 World Cup runners-up will battle Poland for top spot on Tuesday, but made certain of their place in the next round thanks to goals from Cintas, Juanma as well as a brace from Llorenc.

Poland did their bit by easing to a relatively straight-forward 5-1 win over Denmark.

Marcin Stanislawski’s side now have maximum points and confirmed their progression thanks to goals from Saganowski, Jesionowski, Stasiak, Gac and Depta.

Group F

In the only three-team group, a Salak hat-trick gave Czech Republic a winning start to qualification as they ran out 7-4 winners against Georgia.

The Czechs were made to wait for their opening match but Salak struck three times to end the resistance of a spirited Georgia side who played most of the latter stages with a man less due to Leo’s dismissal.

Monday results

Czech Republic 7-4 Georgia

Greece 4-1 Lithuania

Poland 5-1 Denmark

Switzerland 9-0 Netherlands 

Norway 1-3 Kazakhstan

Spain 4-0 Estonia

Russia 7-3 Germany

Tuesday fixtures

Azerbaijan v Bulgaria (Live broadcast)

Netherlands v Lithuania (Live broadcast)

Ukraine v Czech Republic (Live broadcast)

Estonia v Denmark (Live broadcast)

Switzerland v Greece (Live broadcast)

Hungary v France (Live broadcast)

Spain v Poland (Live broadcast)