The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

AFTER six days of competition, the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Bahamas 2017 is down to the final eight teams - Portugal, Tahiti, Paraguay, Brazil, Senegal, Iran, Italy and Switzerland - and the quarter-final match ups on Thursday known.

Today is an off day as teams regroup and prepare for the knockout stages with another rest day on Friday before the semi-finals on Saturday and final on Sunday.

The intense competition continued yesterday at the National Beach Soccer Arena at Malcolm Park with the final group phase matches and teams jockeying for their spots in the quarter-finals.

Defending champions Portugal survived a close encounter with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the second place finishers out of the AFC Championships, needing extra time to score the winning goal after a 1-1 draw after normal time.

“It was very difficult to play against these teams. The final match was quite difficult because they know us. Some of our players play in their national league,” said Madjer, Portugal’s team captain. “It was one of our hardest matches, but now we can rest for the next match.”

That will be played on Thursday, when Portugal will have their hands full against Brazil, the Group D winners with maximum points from their three games.

“One more game. If you want to be champion, you can’t choose your opponent,” Madjer said. “We have to go into that match with the same mentality to win. We can’t take any team lightly.”

Although they lost, UAE gave the Portugese a run for their money. While some of their players left the field dejected, veteran Ali Karim was elated.

“They are the defending champions and they only beat us by one goal. They should be ashamed of themselves,” said Karim, who booted in their goal. “They have so many good players, but they had to hold on against us. In the next round, they are gone, bye, bye.”

In a highly spirited performance, the Brazilian team delighted their fans as they knocked off Japan 9-3, with Rodrigo scoring five times.

Their captain Xavier Bruno admitted that while the four times champions are still alive, they still have some more work to do if they intend to get into the championship match here.

“This is a very difficult one. This is the World Cup and there is no easy games,” said Bruno, whose team are hoping to improve on their fifth place finish in 2015. “We don’t expect to pass through without any difficulties.”

Bruno, however, said they are enjoying their trip to the Bahamas and even though the time was short for them to take in the sights of New Providence, they hope to enjoy it on Monday when the tournament is complete.

“We have to improve a lot. We played quite good, but we also made a few mistakes, which we normally don’t do,” he said. “It shows us that the level of the game is very high, so there’s no weak team.

“Every team here is strong and they showed that they deserve to be here. So we have to improve a lot and we will improve so that we can go through.”

After their disappointing loss, Japan’s captain Ozu Moreira said they can take comfort in the fact that they played their ninth World Cup in the Bahamas.

“This is such a beautiful place,” he said. “The people are very nice, the stadium is wonderful, but I’m so sad that we won’t be leaving here with first place. I expected us to go a little further, but it didn’t happen.”

Moreira, however, said he hoped that he can make a return trip in the future to enjoy the amenities with his wife.

Also yesterday, Tahiti made sure of their place in the last eight with an 8-4 win over Poland. Tahiti, the runners-up from the 2015 World Cup, were the top seeds coming out of the Oceania region.

Paraguay pulled off a 5-2 win over Panama, the CONCACAF champions after their tournament christened the new stadium here a month ago.

Paraguay, the second place finishers out of South America, are making their third appearance in the World Cup and already they surpassed their previous best performance of ninth in 2013 by making the quarter-final for the first time.

Paraguay and Tahiti will kick things off on Thursday in the first quarter-final at 3.30pm followed by Brazil v Portugal at 5pm.

At 6.30pm, Switzerland will meet Iran and in the last tie at 8pm, it will be Senegal v Italy.

Sixteen teams started the tournament last Thursday, including the Bahamas, who made their debut as hosts of the first World Cup to be staged in the Caribbean.

After losing their first two games to Switzerland and Senegal, the Bahamas rocked the stadium on Monday night with their 4-1 win over Ecuador. Unfortunately, it was not enough as the Bahamas joined Ecuador, Japan, Nigeria, Mexico, Poland, Panama and UAE on the sidelines.