Courtesy: Latin American Herald Tribune


Russia Edges Iran to Reach Futsal World Cup Final

MEDELLIN, Colombia – Russia advanced to the final of the Futsal World Cup with a 4-3 victory over Iran and now awaits the winner of the other semifinal contest pitting Argentina against Portugal.

Russia, which finally reached the title match after coming up short in the semifinals in 1996, 2000 and 2008, sent home an Iranian squad that had eliminated tournament favorite Brazil in the round of 16.

The Russians never trailed in Tuesday night’s game at Ivan de Bedout Coliseum in this northwestern Colombian city, getting goals from Dmitry Lyskov in the 13th minute and Sergey Abramov shortly after halftime.

Iran kept things close with a goal by Ahmad Esmaeilpour in the 16th minute and a score by Ali Hassan Zadeh in the 29th minute that knotted the contest at 2-2.

But Russia went ahead for good just seconds later on a strike by Vladislav Shayakhmetov.

Iran threw caution to the wind and pushed their goalie forward with three minutes left, but the move backfired when Russia went ahead 4-2 on a late goal by Ivan Chishkala.

The Iranians pegged one back with just seconds remaining in the contest.

Afterward, Russia’s head coach credited his vanquished opponent.

“It was a really hard match,” Sergey Skorovich said. “We had not been able to go ahead with two goals, but this was exactly how we expected the match to be. We did not move ourselves how we wanted, but this is normal after a long tournament like this.”

His Iranian counterpart said his team had given all it had.

“I am really happy that we could give pleasure to the spectators. We always play with our hearts and we also proved that (Tuesday). Big congratulations to Russia for reaching the final,” Seyed Nazemalsharieh said.



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