Source: Arab Times

Cardinal (UKR)5 - 0 Atlético Huila (COL)
Misr Lelmakassa (EGY) 3 - 0 Al-Nasser (RSA)

Cardinal-Rivne of Ukraine thrashed Colombia’s Atletico Huila 5-0 to top group A in the first match of the third and final group round robin matches played at the Kuwait Mini World Futsal Club Tournament. The result puts the Ukrainian side comfortably at the helm of group A thus making the team a worthy candidate for next round’s knockout series in the 5-aside indoor tournament scheduled to end July 27, 2013.

Cardinal, who won all three of their matches to lead the group with 9 points and a hefty goal difference of eight, had three of their goals through Cherniienko Andrii with the opening goal coming in the ninth minute. Andrii added another goal three minutes later in the twelfth minute after tapping in a rebound from Serghi’s free kick just outside the 18- yard box to close the first half at 2-0 for Cardinal.

The charged second half saw the determined Atletico play hard, alternating between regular and power play but the Ukrainians stood their ground, not allowing them any breathing space to maneuver. Serghi scored in the 21st minute to raise the tally for Cardinal at 3-0 followed by Artem whose goal came in the 37th minute. Andrii’s 38th minute goal put the final nail in the Atletico coffin to finalize the deal at 5-0 for Cardinal- Rivne at close.

Meanwhile, there was drama at the tournament venue as the crowd anxiously waited for commencement of the second match of the day. The second fixture which had Egypt’s Misr LelMakasa pitted against Al-Nasser of Saudi Arabia, had spectators and officials waiting for about half an hour for the Saudi team emerge and join their Egyptian counterparts who were already doing some kick-about on the turf.

Half an hour later, news came apparently from the Al-Nasser officials that the team had opted for a default loss which under the Futsal house rules hands them a 0-3 outcome, rather than risk an embarrassing humiliation on the hard court with a heavier goal margin at the hands of the obviously stronger Egyptian side.

That ushers the tournament, in its ninth day and eighteen matches later, into the final phase of the group matches which will be complete after the rest of the groups, B, C and D finish their third round of matches to determine which teams will rank first and second to join Cardinal-Rivne and Misr LelMakasa in the next round of the competition.





FP Staff --> info@futsalplanet.com