Russia, Belarus and Switzerland all harbour hopes of finishing top of Division A on Sunday.
Russia, Belarus and Switzerland all still stand a chance of winning the Euro Beach Soccer League stage in Moscow after Saturday’s action.
Russia claimed a thrilling 3-2 win against Belarus at the Euro Beach Soccer League in Moscow on Saturday – ensuring what promises to be a tense finale to the competition tomorrow.
Ihar Bryshtsel and Ilia Savich dragged Belarus back from 2-0 down to 2-2 only for Russia skipper Anton Shkarin to hit the winner late on, leaving both sides, along with Switzerland in the hunt for the title going into the final day.
Russia started strongly and Belarus needed a strong arm from Valery Makarevich to thwart Aleksey Makarov early on while, at the other end, Ihar Bryshtsel’s low bobbling drive caused Maksim Chuzhkov some problems.
The opener would go to the hosts however as Yury Krasheninnikov found the bottom corner with a low strike before captain Shkarin doubled the advantage with just 12 seconds left of the opening frame.
Eventually, three minutes from the end of the second period, Bryshtsel deservedly got his goal – finding the bottom corner from range – to set up a tense finale.
Belarus were almost on terms when Artur Paporotnyi inadvertently deflected the ball against his own crossbar amid a keenly contested close to the contest but Nico’s side did draw level when Savich headed home a pass from Makarevich.
The equaliser ramped up the tension further as Chuzhkov and Ivan Miranovich went close for either side before Shkarin kept his cool to slot home a free-kick and restore his side’s lead.
There was time for further late drama when Chuzhkov produced a wonderful save to deny Savich and Belarus an equaliser as Russia bolstered their hopes of lifting the title on home sand.
Switzerland bounced back from their defeat to Belarus with four-goal Noel Ott inspiring a thumping 8-1 win against Greece.
Angelo Schirinzi’s men were beaten 4-2 on day one in a bruising encounter, which saw Ott play much of the contest as a goalkeeper, but Switzerland shook off that disappointment to condemn Greece to a second heavy defeat of the competition.
Angelo Wuest gave Switzerland the lead, after they had begun the brighter, before Ott began to make up for lost time. Having spent much of the defeat to Belarus in goal, the forward grabbed his first three goals inside six first-period minutes to give the Swiss a 4-0 lead at the break.
Ott’s strike partner Dejan Stankovic joined the party early in the second to extend the advantage in what was beginning to look like another difficult day for Greece before the main man himself got his fourth of the contest.
Greece enjoyed some respite when Michail Kafantaris turned well and found the bottom corner to halt Swiss momentum before the final frame. However, Switzerland were back on the goal trail in somewhat fortunate fashion when Sandro Spaccarotella’s tame effort took a wicked deflection to deceive Georgios Monos.
The Greece goalkeeper was then beaten by his opposite number Marco Allenbach as the Swiss stopper capped a comfortable win that keeps alive their title hopes.
Turkey will go head to head with Moldova for the Moscow stage of the Euro Beach Soccer League in Division B on Sunday after a 5-3 win against Kazakhstan on day two.
In their first game of the event, Turkey never found themselves behind in the contest and were largely untroubled as Cem Keskin’s double helped ensure them a winner-takes-all clash on the final day in the Russian capital.
Turkey started brightly against a Kazakhstan side somewhat unfortunate to lose out on day one against the Moldovans, Semih Turkmen going close with an overhead kick before Cem Keskin broke the deadlock with a strike form a narrow angle.
Igor Demeshko almost levelled when he prodded an effort against the crossbar before skipper Sergey Kvyatkovskiy’s free-kick took a deflection in the sand to beat Mehmet Aslamaci. Parity was shortlived as Baris Terzioglu’s close-range overhead kick left Vitkor Chornyy with no chance prior to the interval.
Baris was almost denied a wonderful second when he nonchalantly chested a shot over Chornyy and against the crossbar shortly after the restart, although Turkey did go 3-1 up when Semih got on the scoresheet.
In the final frame, Igor Demeshko reduced the arrears before Bayanbek Muralinov went close to levelling – the Kazakh forward unable to force the ball past a host of Turkish bodies and over the line.
However, Kazakh hopes were dented when Erkan Anzaflioglu placed a free-kick in the bottom left-hand corner and, while Dmitriy Perevyortov scored again for Kazakhstan, Cem Keskin responded swiftly again for Turkey to settle any nerves late on.
Friday results
16:00 – Moldova 4-2 Kazakhstan
17:15 – Belarus 8-4 Switzerland
18:30 – Greece 0-9 Russia
Saturday results
16:00 – Kazakhstan 3-5 Turkey
17:15 – Switzerland 8-1 Greece
18:30 – Russia 3-2 Belarus
Sunday fixtures
16:00 – Turkey v Moldova
17:15 – Belarus v Greece
18:30 – Russia v Switzerland
