Other than the inclement weather, there were precious few surprises for beach soccer fans on Marseille's Prado beach on Friday. Sullen grey skies hung over the action and there was even a spot of rain or two later on as the favourites all won through in the Last Chance Bracket quarter-finals.

In Switzerland's case, 'won through' should perhaps read 'stormed through', the day's opening match ending with the fourth-placed side in the regular season inflicting a heavy 13-5 defeat on the timid Austrians. Thanks mainly to seven goals from star striker Dejan Stankovic, the Swiss left their opponents no chance and were already 5-0 up after the first period.

"It's frustrating to see the team only raise their game to this level in the Last Chance Bracket," lamented Switzerland coach Angelo Schirinz afterwards. "Now let's try to continue down this road to keep our World Cup dreams alive."

The Swiss are due to meet Ukraine in the semi-finals and will need another strong performance against the side that made it to global showpiece event in 2005 and narrowly missed out on a Group A spot this term. To earn their last-four berth, the Eastern Europeans squeezed past Poland 5-4, picking up the scalp of the team that finished seventh in the Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) 2007. Having travelled with a squad of just seven players - giving them merely two substitutes - the Poles were ultimately made to pay for their sparse bench. Their technical superiority counted for little as they ran out of steam in the last period.

In the other semi-final, Italy will be expected to come out on top against Germany, despite being given a serious work-out by Hungary before finally securing their passage. The two rivals were level at 1-1 with eight minutes to go and it took strikes from Michele Leghissa, Roberto Pasquali, Maurizio Galli, Simone Feudi and Massimiliano Esposito to see them through with a flattering 6-1 score-line. Azzurri trainer Giancarlo Magrini did not seem to mind if the result was flattering or not, however.

"This triumph fills me with hope," he commented. "If we continue to play like that, we have a very realistic chance of going to Rio. My team has been constantly improving since the start of the season and I hope we'll be partying on Sunday."

The last encounter of the day was Germany's opportunity to prove their worth and they did just that, completing a straightforward 6-2 win over the newcomers from Norway, whose goalscorers Tom Henriksen and Sture Leiknes will nevertheless leave with a memory to savour. "Above all, we're happy with our defensive performance," explained Germany's Eddie Lowen. "This result gives us a lot of confidence before we take on such an experienced side in the semi-finals."

The four remaining teams will be whittled down to two on Saturday, as Marseille hosts the semi-finals in both the Last Chance Bracket and the Superfinal.