Tight Russian win over UAE

World Champions beat the hosts in the first of the two firendly matches ahead of the upcoming

World Champions Russia edged the UAE 3-4 yesterday evening, in their first of two friendly matches to be held at the Al Mamzar Park in preparation for the Samsung Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup Dubai 2012.

Two defensive mistakes got the hosts quickly down in the score, but the tactical modifications introduced by coach Marcelo Mendes turned quite successful, with Rashid Ahmed cutting the distance to 2-1 midway second period.

UAE kept sieging Bukhlitskiy’s goal, but in the third time, the Russians, defending champions in this upcoming Samsung Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup Dubai 2012, managed to shake this pressure off through harmful counterattacks. The UAE never gave up, nor lost track to Likhachev’s team, and despite the 1-4, their strong fight got them really close again on the scoreboard. Rahid Ahmed’s second net, followed by Hassan Ali’s hit, got Mendes side just one goal below the ‘Red machine’.   But the clock did not allow the hosts reaction any further, and victory fell on Russian side.

Despite the defeat, coach Marcelo Mendes pointed the importance of these kind of games: “This is so much of a learning process for the entire side,” the coach said.

“We went out there to get the experience and we have seen the mistakes that we have made. I congratulate my team for their commitment and focus”, he ended.