Courtesy: Arab Times

Misr LelMakasa club of Egypt were crowned champions of the just ended Kuwait Mini World Futsal Club Tournament after they beat Ukraine’s Cardinal-Rivne 3-1 in the tournament finals played at Kazma Hall in Adailiya, Kuwait.

Ayman Abdulkader drew first blood to power Makasa ahead in the sixteenth minute with a shot delivered into the Cardinal net from Ibrahim Awad’s surgical pass. The Egyptians were in control of their game, sticking to their tactical plan from the early going with long balls and passes to put pressure on Cardinal defense and keeper.

Cardinal’s game in the opening minutes saw some missteps in both defense and offense but towards the end of the first half, they began to fine tune their game resulting in Bondar Oleksandr’s twentieth minute equalizer for the Ukrainian side to level up scores, 1-1 right on the halftime mark.

Both sides kept their hunts for goals alive with Makasa being the more aggressive, occasionally penetrating the Cardinal defense which occasionally prompted fierce challenges from the Ukrainians resulting in two yellow cards for Sergii and Oleksadr. Ramadan Smasiri for Makasa also picked up a yellow for a robust challenge on Oleksandr.

The game travelled the full regulation time with both sides still deadlocked at 1-1 which called for extra time of two 5-minute halves. The first five minutes also ended with no clear winner, still at 1-1. But it was in the seventh minute of the extra time that Mohammed Edrees tapped in Makasa’s winning goal which prompted the Ukrainians to gamble with a shift into power play, piling tons of pressure on the Makasa defense till in the final six seconds when Smasiri managed to wrestle the ball from Serhii and flicked it into the unguarded goalpost of the Ukrainians for a Makasa 3-1 blowout victory to clinch the Mini World Futsal Club championship2013 trophy.

After 17 days, 16 teams with 32 matches played, 149 goals scored, 101 yellow card and 13 red cards raked up by the teams, the FIFA-AFC approved Futsal Club championship tournament has finally ended with the following results:

* Champions- Misr LelMakasa (Egypt)
* 1st Runner up- Cardinal-Rivne (Ukraine)
* 2nd Runner Up- Santiago Futsal (Spain)
* 3rd Runner up- MNK Alumnus (Croatia)

Makasa won the championship scoring thirteen goals in total while conceding seven while also raking up nine yellow and two red cards in the process. Makasa’s heroic performance was a culmination of a build up from the group stages where they finished second behind Cardinal with 6 points. The Egyptian side edged out AlSadd of Qatar in the quarter finals and forced almighty Santiago, huge tournament favorites, into submission in the semis to advance to the finals where they capped their campaign with a hard won glossy finish as Mini Futsal club champions for 2013.

Best player of the tournament was won by Hrvoje Penava of Alumnus who finished with seven goals scored but ended in hospital with a multiple-fractured arm. The champions, Makasa, apart from the trophy, received a check of one hundred thousand US dollars (US$100,000) while Cardinal-Rivne, as second placed team sent home fifty thousand US dollars (US$50,000) in prize money. Santiago and Alumnus both received twenty five thousand US dollars (US$25,000) each as third and fourth placed teams in the tournament.

Speaking to Arab Times on the sidelines of the tournament, Sheikh Talal Al Mohammed Sabah, tournament committee chairman, noted that the huge success of the event which is a novel idea coming from him, leaves the gate open for the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) to take a decision either to continue with its organization or not. “The whole world has seen it’s been a great success”, he said.





FP Staff --> info@futsalplanet.com