Courtesy: Fox News Latino


Egypt stuns Italy to reach Futsal World Cup quarterfinals

September 23, 2016

CALI – Egypt advanced to the quarterfinals of the Futsal World Cup with a stunning 4-3 overtime victory here over Italy, a game in which goalkeeper Gamal Abdelnaser and striker Abdelrahman Elashwal played the starring roles.

The Egyptians advanced to the final eight of this international event for the first time and will next take on Argentina, which edged Ukraine 1-0 Thursday evening in a hard-fought battle in Bucaramanga that also went to extra time.

Italy's ouster on Thursday night at this southwestern city's Coliseo El Pueblo was the second major surprise of this year's tournament, coming a day after Iran shocked five-time champion Brazil in a penalty shootout.

Abdelnaser stopped several shots that otherwise would have found the back of the net, while Elashwal scored three goals, the last of which came in the second overtime period and proved to be the game winner.

The Italians had the edge in terms of ball possession, but the Egyptians did a better job of capitalizing on their opportunities and never trailed in the contest.

The score was knotted at 3-3 after 40 minutes of regulation and remained that way throughout the first five-minute overtime period, but Elashwal came through for Egypt in the second extra time when he took advantage of a defensive blunder.

In one other result Thursday evening, Azerbaijan scored six goals in overtime to defeat Thailand 13-8.

The quarterfinal matchups are now set, with Paraguay scheduled to meet Iran in Bucaramanga and Russia taking on Spain in Cali on Saturday.

On Sunday, Argentina will square off against Egypt in Medellin and Azerbaijan will play Portugal in Cali.



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com