Denmark held their nerve to seal a dramatic penalty shootout win over Jordan in the final of the inaugural F5WC – World Football Fives in Dubai on Saturday night.
The champions were made to dig deep for victory at the Dubai World Trade Centre, as Kevin Jorgensen scored at the second attempt to notch a late equaliser and force extra-time.
Jordan had been the better side for long periods of the deciding game, but were unable to avoid the lottery of penalties and it was their opponents who finished stronger, as Mads Falck went close in the dying minutes.
The Danes, who knocked out favourites Uruguay in the semi-finals, had already tasted shootout success as they overcame the UAE in the last eight and their confidence in front of goal ultimately told.
All four Danish players scored their spot kicks, while Jordan’s third was disallowed as Majdy took more than a one-step run-up before Baha also missed to hand the Europeans the title.
“We are crazy happy,” Denmark captain Adreas Birkedal said. “This is not what we expected at all. We came here humble, ready to fight for every point and fight for every goal.
“That’s what we did and that’s why we’re champions.”
For most teams, the thought of a penalty shootout is enough to turn legs to jelly but Birkedal revealed the Danes have an innate confidence when it comes to spot kicks.
“We were pretty comfortable at that time," he revealed. "We have a great goalkeeper and he’s great at penalties so we knew we could win.”
Jordan had battled past Portugal, the USA and Qatar to make the final and had their chances to keep the trophy in the Middle East, only to find Danish keeper Nis Andersen in inspired form.
Understandably, though, following the final whistle their thoughts were dominated by the decision to disallow their third spot kick in the decisive shootout.
“It was a little bit difficult,” Nor Khazaleh said. “For us we have been playing five-a-side for a long time now and this is the first time that we have arrived in a position that we have to take a penalty this way.
“We have never had to do that and probably some of the players didn’t understand correctly what we were supposed to do.”
However, the Jordanian added: “This year we came second hopefully next year we can come first.”
Having steamrolled their way to the last four, Uruguay’s players were inconsolable following their semi-final defeat to champions Denmark.
Their performances up until that point had won the South Americans many admirers around the World Trade Centre, though, and it was no surprise to see one of their players, Richard Catarso, pick up the player of the tournament award.
“This prize is for the team. Without the team I cannot really show my skills,” he said after being presented with a signed Kaka shirt. “[But] it doesn’t make up for not reaching the final because I came here to play for the team and reach the final with my team.”
This year’s tournament was the first of an initial three-year deal between F5WC and Dubai Sports Council.
With between 3,000 and 4,000 fans checking the event out over the two days, and a lively atmosphere as football freestylers and a bubble football exhibition kept spectators interested in between the action, it was clearly a success. So much so that organisers revealed that work has already started on the 2015 tournament.
“I think from a playing side and a skill level we really did see some exceptional football,” F5WC director James Davies Yandle said. “We’ve already started planning for next year, a few weeks ago.
"We’ve got a three year deal with the Sports Council, so it will be staying here. We’ve got some fantastic plans to make it bigger, better.”
RESULTS
Final
Jordan 1-1 (aet) Denmark (Denmark win 4-2 on penalties)
Semi-final
Qatar 0-1 Jordan
Uruguay 1-2 Denmark
Quarter-finals
Spain 0-2 Qatar
Jordan 2-1 USA
Uruguay 2-0 Finland
Denmark 2-2 (aet) UAE (Denmark win 4-1 on penalties)
Second round
South Africa 0-1 Spain
Mexico 0-1 Qatar
Jordan 3-0 Portugal
Scotland 0-2 USA
Uruguay 4-1 Syria
Finland 2-0 Ghana
Denmark 3-1 Romania
UAE 3-2 England
