New faces and a never before seen final on February 16th ended with the hosts defeating Casa España in the VI Liga Nacional de Fútbol Playa
San Bernardino played a solid, in fact, better than solid final match as they defeated Casa España 6-3 on Sunday in front of their hometown crowd. The League final was the sixth time that the top two teams in Paraguay fought for the coveted title. It marked the first time that a team from the nations’ capital, Asunción, played in the final, however Casa España looks to be a formidable force for years to come, and will look to reverse the trend. The victory gave the Sanber their first ever league title and making it even sweeter was that they had to go through the reigning champion of Paraguay, Itauguá in their semi-final clash.
The final was a tight match and even though there was a three goal differential at the end, the sides were even closer matched than the 6-3 score showed. The visitors, Casa España, scored first and were riding the momentum but San Bernardino rattled off more goals than Casa España could handle and when the dust settled, the hosts were champions for the first time.
An exciting third place match involved two ex-champion teams, Itauguá, and Encarnación. The two semi-final losers lost in heart breaking fashion, 5-2 and 4-2, the week before and both did not want a let-down in the consolation game. The title holder of the championship at the time, Itauguá, was not able to find their signature magic and found themselves on the losing end, falling 6-3 to Encarnación, the two-time former champion.
