Russia made it third time lucky as they won the Samsung Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup with a convincing 5-2 win over Tahiti.
The Russians have amazingly featured in all five finals of the tournament since the inaugural edition in 2011. Although after back-to-back wins in 2011 and 2012 they have tasted back-to-back defeats in both 2013 and 2014.
They meant business last night, however, and stormed into a 4-0 lead to blow away the Tiki Toa at Dubai International Marine Club.
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Goalkeeper Andrey Bukhlitskiy opened the scoring early on and three more goals in two minutes killed the tie off, Yury Krasheninnikov netting a brace and Aleksey Makarov making it 4-0.
Angelo Tchen pulled one back in the second period but Yury Gorchinskiy restored Russia’s four-goal cushion in the third, Taiarui Heimanu adding a late consolation for the Oceanic side.
The win caps a frustrating year for Russia in which they just fell short in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup and the Euro Beach Soccer League.
Hosts UAE enjoyed a final day to remember as they thrashed Portugal 4-1 to claim fifth, an improvement of one place from last year.
The win was the final installment of a fantastic performance throughout the tournament from Gustavo Zloccowick’s side, who will have been disappointed to only finish fifth after losing just once and beating eventual tournament winners Russia in the group stages.
The deadlock in a tense first period was broken with three minutes remaining, Walid Mohammadi putting the hosts ahead, and it was 2-0 before the break thanks to Abbas Darkyaei.
Thanks to our individual award winners: Best goalie: Humaid (UAE) Top-scorer: M. Gamal (Egypt) MVP: Krash (Russia) pic.twitter.com/y4dlk5sM8i
— BeachSoccerWorldwide (@BeachSoccer_WW) November 7, 2015
Rui Coimbra pulled one back in the second period but the UAE hit back with two quick-fire goals throgh Waleed Beshr to put the Emiratis firmly in control.
Mexico beat Argentina 6-2 to claim seventh place and Iran beat Egypt 3-2 on penalties to seal third.
The UAE’s Humaid Alblooshi was named goalkeeper of the tournament, with Egypt’s Mohamed Gamal top scorer and Krasheninnikov of Russia picking up the MVP.
