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A late surge in the second period was all Portugal needed to pull out a 6-4 victory over Morroco on the second day of the Beach Soccer Intercontinential Cup at the Dubai International Marine Club on Wednesday night.
Bernardo Barral Martins Santos broke a 4-4 tie for Portugal and then Jose Maria Veiga finished off the scoring before the teams played a scoreless third period.
The win gives Portugal six points and moved them on top in Group A. In Thursday’s action, they will face the UAE – who fell to defending champions Iran 2-1 last night – with aspirations of closing out the group stage undefeated.
Morocco is still in great position with three points and will need to secure another three points against Iran to advance.
The UAE suffered their second one-goal loss in as many days after Hussan Ali Saeed Al Hamadi scored off a rebound in the opening seconds of the second period to ignite the home crowd.
Ali Naderi Hosseinabadi of Iran struck a direct kick in the final period, which was the difference in the match.
Bruno Xavier was on fire for Brazil as he scored five of his team’s goals in a 7-4 victory over Japan. Brazil remain undefeated in Group B and secured a spot in the semi-finals with the victory.
Brazil will look to keep their perfect record intact today when they take on Russia, the group’s other favourite to advance.
Dmitry Shishin scored twice in the first period as Russia jumped to a four-goal lead on the United States on Wednesday.
The Americans found the net in the second period, but Russia cruised to a 5-1 victory to record their second win of the tournament.
Four more games are scheduled Thursday in Dubai before the top two teams in each Group advance to Friday’s semi-finals.
The final day is Saturday, with the tournament championship scheduled for 8pm.
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