Brazilians overcome Portugal in high-quality match
Oman and United Arab Emirates chalk up victories for Asia
Senegal put in brilliant performance against Belarus
REVIEW OF THE DAY – After defeating Portugal in one of the group stage’s most highly-anticipated encounters, Brazil became the third team to qualify for the quarter-finals of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Paraguay 2019. This was the South Americans’ seventh consecutive success versus the Portuguese in eight World Cup meetings.
Elsewhere in Group D, Oman collected their second-ever win in the history of the tournament at the expense of Nigeria, who are now eliminated.
Group C, meanwhile, is very much up for grabs, following the victories recorded by United Arab Emirates and Senegal. The Emiratis led the way by seeing off two-time champions Russia, while the Africans, propelled by an inspired four-goal performance from Mamour Diagne, disposed of Belarus.
Group C Russia 1-4 United Arab Emirates 🎥 Belarus 2-7 Senegal 🎥
Group D Nigeria 5-6 Oman 🎥 Brazil 9-7 Portugal 🎥
Moments of the day 📌
Best of the best The incredible match between Brazil and Portugal did not just raise the interest of the fans: several tournament participants were also in attendance. In fact, players and officials from Paraguay, Switzerland, United States, Japan, Oman, Italy, Senegal, Belarus and Mexico were all present in the stands. Nobody wanted to miss the fixture that has occurred more times (eight) than any other in World Cup history.
First time for everything With their surprising win over Russia, United Arab Emirates brought a long undesirable run to an end – up until Sunday, they had lost their six previous World Cup clashes against European nations. Indeed, one of the teams to get the better of them was Russia, at Dubai 2008.
350 not out The number is as impressive as his achievements: 40-year-old goalkeeper Mao played in his 350th match for Brazil versus Portugal. In recognition of this feat, the five-time World Cup winner was presented with a goalkeeper jersey with that number on the back.
Shots of the day 📸
Photos of the day - 24 November (Paraguay 2019)
What’s next 🗓
Matchday 5 - 25 November
Group A Japan-Switzerland (17:50, local time) USA-Paraguay (21:00, local time)
Group B Mexico-Italy (16:15, local time) Tahiti-Uruguay (19:25, local time)
The situation in Group A is straightforward: the winners of the match between Japan and Switzerland, who have both already booked a slot in the quarter-finals, will finish top. In the other match between the already-eliminated pair of Paraguay and USA, only honour is at stake.
The situation in Group B is quite different, because all four teams can still qualify. Italy’s fate is in their own hands: if they win in regulation time, they will advance to the knockout stage. If they register any other result, they will have to wait and see. Their opponents, Mexico, meanwhile, have to win handily and hope that Uruguay do the same against Tahiti.
The Uruguayans could bag a place in the quarter-finals before even playing, but whatever happens, they will remain in the competition if they secure a victory in regulation time or extra-time. Tahiti are also masters of their own destiny – if the islanders can defeat Uruguay by three goals in regulation time, they will play at least one more game in Paraguay.