Russia and Brazil claim Men’s and Women’s Gold at 14th World University Futsal Championship
At the 14th World University Futsal Championship in Antequera (Malaga), Spain, Russia and Brazil won the gold in the men’s and women’s tournament respectively.
Russia and Brazil qualified for the final in a 16 team men’s tournament, while Iran and Belarus battled it out for the bronze medal. The gold medal match between Russia and Brazil was a very tense game that could have gone either way. Brazil gave away a 3-1 lead. Indeed, despite two goals down, Russia did not give up and scored 3 goals in 4 minutes. The rest of the match would be punctuated by many Brazilian faults and, as the Brazilian team quickly totaled five unforced errors, the Russians got 5 free kicks and managed to collect on 3. Russia then quietly contented to manage the end of the match and won the encounter with a final score of 8-5. The match for the bronze medal opposed Iran and Belarus. It was a beautiful game with two very talented teams. At the end of regulation time, the teams were still back-to-back (3-3) and so it was the ruthless shoot on goal that would separate the two teams. After a long series of penalty kicks, it is ultimately the 10th player from Belarus who succeeded his shot on goal pocketing at the same time the bronze medal for his country.
Brazil won against Spain 3-1 in the final of the 8-team women’s tournament. The South Americans had fortune on their side and scored first, fact that disrupted morale on the Iberian team whose gameplay was affected by it. The bronze medal match featured Russia and Portugal. Unlike what happened in the final, it was a slow game from both teams which was decided in minute 32 thanks to a single goal by Russia.
The next World University Futsal Championship will be hosted in Goiana, Brazil, in 2016.
C. Pierre, FISU Press Officer