The beach soccer kings of Mozambique were crowned on Sunday as Tau-Tau snatched victory against Colectividade de Amigos da Praia
Tau-Tau FC retained the title of National Beach Soccer Champion on Sunday afternoon, by beating the Colectividade de Amigos da Praia 5-4.
In third place was Recreativo da Polana Caniço who handed a 5-1 to BFC Mahotas.
The champions were awarded a trophy, medals and a check worth 150,000 Meticais (around 2,090€). The second-place prize was a trophy, medals and 90,000 Meticais (around 1,254€), and third-placed Recanativo Polana Caniço also received a trophy, medals and 60,000 Meticais (around 830€), as well as the fair play trophy.
Silvestre Manoco of Tau-Tau FC won – for the third consecutive year! – the title of top scorer with a grand total of 16 goals and the Best Goalkeeper went to Recreativo da Polana Caniço’s Manuel Domingos Tivane.
The supporters of Recanativo da Polana Caniço also won the title of Best Cheer.
To round off the spectacle, Mozambique’s celebrity musician and entrepreneur, Mr. Bow, gave a special performance, using the opportunity to raise the public awareness and support of the victims of Cyclone Idai and the floods in the country.
Colectivo de Amigos da Praia 4-5 Tau-Tau FC
The final started slowly, with shots flying high and wide but Tau-Tau soon found the rhythm and before long had taken an initial lead.
At six minutes, Colectivo de Amigos da Prai (CAP) showed how much meant the title meant to them, when they struck to level the game up. Tau-Tau continued to enjoy the best opportunities but couldn’t convert them until the tenth minute, and then another saw them go into the final period with a 3-1 lead.
At the beginning of the third period, CAP relaunched their attack, reducing the score to 3-2 and showing offensive power, which made it harder and harder for Tau-Tau to contain them. A necessary intervention by the captain of the Tau-Tau saw him fire a strong shot to make it 4-2.
However, Colectivo de Amigos da Praia came back and two quick goals saw them draw level at 4-4 to scare the desperate defending champions.
Then Tau-Tau, with two minutes left on the clock, scored the killer blow to ensure that they retained the 2019 title.
BFC Mahotas 1-5 Recreativo da Polana Caniço
An initially very balanced game, the third-place play-off of the Mozambique National Beach Soccer Champion turned out to be somewhat one-sided.
Recreativo da Polana Caniço drew first blood after two minutes to take the lead. At ten minutes they doubled the advantage and managed to extend it even further before the end of the first period.
BFC Mahotas reduced the deficit to 3-1, but the glimmer of hope was soon stamped out by first a fourth and then a fifth goal from Recreativo da Polana Caniço.
