Spain and Brazil qualified in front of 7,250 spectators for the final ofthe 4th FIFA Futsal World Championship in an almost sell-out Domo hall in Guatemala City. The final will be played at 16.30 hours local time on Sunday; the match for th 3rd and 4th place between Russia and Portugal will take place on the same day and at the same venue at 14.00 hours.

Spain vs. Russia was not a match for people with a weak heart. Russia's captain Alexander Verizhnikov gave the European Champions the lead within just two minutes with a spectacular goal from an acute angle. Spain netted the equaliser after 15 minutes through Paulo Roberto. The match ended 1-1 at half time, but both teams had many opportunities of scoring their second goal before the break.

The match remained well-balanced and interesting in the second half. After 23 minutes, Daniel scored the second Spanish goal. About a minute before the end of the game, Verizhnikov scored his second goal and almost everbody in the hall thought that the match would go into extra time.

But Daniel became Russia's nightmare just 7 seconds before the end of the match. He shot the ball from a close distance between the legs of goalkeeper Oleg Denisov and into the net - 3-2 for Spain. Spain is in the final, where they will face Brazil. Both teams contested the final of the last World Championship, too. In 1996, Brazil beat the host team 6-4 in Barcelona.

Like Spain, Brazil notched up their seventh victory in a row at this tournament. In the other semi-final, the South Americans hammered Portugal 8-0. The World Champions were simply too strong for their opponents and were already leading 3-0 at half-tme. Manoel Tobias again showed his extraordinary goalscoring ability when he put Brazil 1-0 ahead. Later he scored another goal and now has an impressive total of 18 in this tournament.

Brazil had to pay a high price for their second goal. Schumacher, one of their key players, scored it. While he was celebrating the goal, team-mate Vander jumped on his back. Schumacher struggled, fell over and broke a finger of his left hand. This physically and technically powerfu lplayer could possibly miss the final because of this injury. Vander realised he had made a mistake but he was responsible for the highlight of the match in the second half. He scored the fourth Brazilian goal with a shot from almost 30 metres lifting the ball perfectly over goalkeeper Nana.

The fact that their eight goals were scored by seven different players shows how well-balanced the Brazilians are.