Harsh defeat for Poles in beach soccer tournament
After a high victory in the first match against Azerbaijan (7:2), the Polish men’s national beach soccer team suffered a harsh defeat in a clash with Spain on Wednesday. The hosts lost 1:6 and their further fate in the tournament will be decided on Thursday, when they face Portugal.
“I know it sounds bad given the result, but we lacked luck. At one point we were not inferior to the Spaniards. However, we hit posts and a crossbars few times…. If we had scored a couple of goals like that, the match would have been more even. We gave everything, although the result does not reflect that,” said the author of the only goal for the Poles, Daniel Baran.
It was indeed an unfortunate performance by the hosts. They found themselves in a difficult position already at the start of the match, as they were losing 0:2 after only three minutes. Later, although they pressed their rivals, they lacked efficiency, and when Baran finally scored a contact goal at the halfway point of the second period, the rivals immediately responded with another hit. Moments later it was practically “over”, as the Spaniards were already winning 4:1.
The defeat has complicated the situation of the Poles in Group A. Whether they will play in the semi-finals or compete for places 5-8 will depend on the outcome of Thursday’s clash with the leading Portuguese. The latter, after winning against the Spanish on Tuesday (7:5), confidently beat Azerbaijan 5:2 on Wednesday.
In Group B, the Swiss are in a comfortable position with their second victory on Wednesday, this time beating the Ukrainians 4:2. Two goals were scored for them by the incredible Dejan Stankovic, who is the tournament’s top scorer with nine goals.
In the women’s competition, two matches were played on Wednesday. The Polish women were paused, while their group rivals – the Portuguese and Czech women – played instead. The former won 5:1 and it is with them that the red-and-white team will play on Thursday for first place in the group and a better seeding before the semi-finals.
Beach soccer – June 27:
Women’s
Group A: Portugal – Czech Republic 5:1
Group B: Italy – Ukraine 1:2
Men’s:
Group A: Portugal – Azerbaijan 5:2
Group A: Poland – Spain 1:6
Group B: Italy – Moldova 6:4
Group B: Switzerland – Ukraine 4:2
Schedule June 29:
13:00 Ukraine – Moldova / men, group B
14:30 Spain – Italy/ women, group B
16:00 Spain – Azerbaijan / men, group A
17:30 Switzerland – Italy / men, group B
19:00 Poland – Portugal / women, group A
20:30 Poland – Portugal / men, group A
