The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

WE are down to the final four of the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.

The quarter-finals took place last night in the national beach soccer stadium and several major storylines emerged - we are assured a new champion while another team advances to this point for the first time and a familiar contender is again among the last teams standing.

Brazil, Tahiti, Iran and Italy will advance to the semi-finals, all set for Saturday, May 6.

Tahiti is slated to take on Iran at 3pm while Brazil faces Italy at 4:30pm. Sunday, May 7 will feature the play-off for third place and the BSWC final.

Brazil scored arguably the most thrilling win of the day with a 4-3 win over Portugal, the defending World Cup champions.

Rodrigo scored a goal on an overhead kick at the 33’26” mark to lift Brazil in the marquee battle of traditional powerhouses.

Portugal struck first with a goal from Torres just seconds into the match, but Brazil responded almost immediately, about 10 seconds later, with a goal from Catarino.

Portugal took a lead at the end of the first third when Jordan scored to give the defending champions a 2-1 advantage.

A pair of penalty kicks from Datinha in the second period saw Brazil move ahead and Jordan score his second goal as the equaliser. Rodrigo’s late game heroics sent Brazil to the final four after they missed a berth to the round at the 2015 tournament in Portugal.

Brazil won four straight Beach World Cup titles between 2006 and 2009. 

Tahiti, the hosts from 2013, reached the final four for the third consecutive time after a 6-4 win over Paraguay.

Two goals in the final 20 seconds of the game from Patrick Tepa gave Tahiti the advantage in a game that was closely contested for two and two thirds of a period.

Tepa scored at 35’47” and 36’00” as his team advanced.

Tahiti  struck first with a goal from Jonathan Torohia at 8’41” and went ahead 2-0 on team captain Naea Bennett’s score at the 11’27” mark.

Paraguay’s first goal came from an unlikely source when their goalkeeper, Ivan Fernandez broke the ice early into the second period and Pedro Moran’s header tied the score 2-2 at the 17’12” mark.

The team’s traded goals when Tahiti’s Heimanu Taiarui and Moran were able to score. Tearii Labaste scored early in the third period as Tahiti regained momentum en route to the win.

Tahiti may face an uphill battle with Taiarui sidelined for the semifinals with a yellow card suspension. In April 2016, Manu spent time in the Bahamas as he helped the Bahamian national team prepare for the BSWC.

Iran reached it’s first BSWC semi-finals thanks to clutch scoring and the play of goalkeeper Peyman Hosseini down the stretch.

They scored a 4-3 win over Switzerland, sparked by a pair of goals in the first period from team captain Mohammad Ahmadzadeh. The Swiss did all of their scoring in the third period and took the lead. Dejan Stankovic scored the first goal, followed by a pao Glenn Hodel, who also scored two goals against the Bahamas on opening night.

Iran forced extra time when Ali Nazem scored a goal with less than one minute left to play. Mohammed Mokhtari scored the goal in extra time as the Iranians advanced.

Italy, the highest scoring team of the tournament, continued their offensive onslaught with a 5-1 win over Senegal.

Italy got an early score from Gabriele Gori at the 1’11” mark, but both teams struggled to score for much of the remainder of the first and into the second period. Gori, the top goal scorer of the tournament thus far, finished with a hat trick following his scores off penalties at 22’40” and 26’ 01” in the second. Italy scored goals from Mateo Marrucci and Alessio Frainetti to take a commanding 5-0 lead before Senegal ended their World Cup bid with a goal from Ibrahima Balde.