France World Cup -BEACH SOCCER

[Frank Cunha]

Classificação Grupo A:

1.º Portugal, 3 pontos
2.º Uruguai, 3 pts
3.º França, 0 pts
4.º Bélgica, 0 pts


Classificação Grupo B:

1.º Espanha, 3 pontos
2.º Brasil, 3 pts
3.º Ucrânia, 0 pts
4.º USA, 0 pts

[Frank Cunha]

PORTUGAL 5-3 Ukraine

Portugal edged past Ukraine 5-3 to reach the semi-finals of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Rio de Janeiro 2005. Although never in total control of the game, the extra technique and quality of Madjer and Alan was enough to see them though.


"I knew it would be hard because I rate Ukraine as one of the best teams here, acknowledged Portugal coach Zé Miguel after the game. "I think the difference here was one of game knowledge borne of greater experience. We were able to use our heads and I'm very proud of my players."

http://www.fifa.com/en/news/feature...rticleid=106710

[verde-rubro]

The Mastercard Euro Beach Soccer League is BSWW’s longest-running championship, bringing the top national teams from the entire European continent to compete head to head in a thrilling summer-long league format. Originally started back in 1998 as a single group of teams making the most of the Northern Hemisphere’s summer months, this exciting continental competition has gained such a following that three separate groups have now been formed, with the action spread out over several weeks. The competition travels from country to country with the league setting up camp for a weekend at a time, attracting large crowds of local spectators and giving each event a unique feel for the television audience.

The 2004 season culminated with Team France, spearheaded by superstar Eric Cantona, claiming the title at a Superfinal in Monaco. The season was another undeniable success story with the usual strong performances from southern nations France, Portugal, Italy and Spain, although the spread of EBSL’s infectious energy was epitomized by the strong Ukrainian team, who battled their way to a very respectable third-place finish.

With more nations than ever vying for a spot in the 2005 Superfinal, the EBSL is the pinnacle of beach soccer in Europe, and promises to become a highlight of the continental sporting calendar.

[verde-rubro]

Friday, July 8:
Things got started on Friday with Spain taking a decisive 11-4 victory over Portugal. The game's first goal came just 16 seconds after the opening kickoff. Portugal went ahead 3-2 in the second period but Spain poured it on heavy with eight goals in the third. David, Amarelle, Busti and Eloy each scored twice in the winning effort, while Portugal's Madjer earned a hat trick for the losing side.

France defeated Italy 7-5 in the second game, getting two goals apiece from Sciortino and Castro. France went ahead 4-2 early in the second period on the two from Castro. Italy tied things up at five early in the third but France responded just under a minute later and added an insurance goal a few minutes later to ice things for the French. Tresoldi and Fruzzetti scored twice each in the losing effort for Italy.


Saturday, July 9:
Portugal squeezed by Italy 7-6 in Saturday's first game behind Madjer's two goals. Carotenuto and Tresoldi each tallied a pair in the losing effort for Italy. Portugal's Pedro Jorge put his team ahead by three with under five minutes to play and although Italy came rallying back with two goals in the game's 33rd minute, they were unable to even things and Portugal escaped with the win.

France continued their success with a 7-4 win against Spain. Edouard was the star, netting one in each period to lead the charge for France, including the game's opening goal at the 3:17 mark. Sciortino and François each added two goals apiece in the winning effort. Amarelle's goals were not enough to keep Spain in the game as none of his teammates were able to get on the board, but the four tallies were sufficient to keep him atop the leaderboard for Top Scorer.


Sunday, July 10:
On the final day of the weekend, Italy pulled things together to earn 3rd place in the tournament, defeating Spain 5-4. Italy got two goals from Tresoldi and one each from Forte, Pastori and Fruzzetti en route to the victory. Spain's David tied the game with under three minutes to go but Tresoldi's second came in the game's final minute to give the Italians the victory.

Sunday's final game saw Portugal defeating France 7-4 on the strength of the two-goal performances by Madjer and Alan. France scored first but Portugal's Hernani answered back for his team, who added three goals in the second to build the insurmountable lead en route to victory.

[verde-rubro]

GROUP A TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Friday, July 8
Game 1 - Spain 11, Portugal 4
Game 2 - France 7, Italy 5

Saturday, July 9
Game 3 - Portugal 7, Italy 6
Game 4 - France 7, Spain 4

Sunday, July 10
Game 5 - Italy 5, Spain 4
Game 6 - Portugal 7, France 4


EVENT AWARDS
MVP: Edouard (Fra)
Top Scorer: Amarelle (Spa) - 9 goals
Best Goalkeeper: Scalabrelli (Ita) - 70%


CURRENT GROUP A STANDINGS
1st place - Portugal* (6 points)
2nd place - France (6 points)
3rd place - Italy* (3 points)
4th place - Spain (3 points)

[verde-rubro]

GAME RECAPS

Friday, July 22:
Day one is now complete at the MasterCard Euro Beach Soccer event in Figueira da Foz. Play began Friday afternoon with an excellent matchup: France vs. Spain. With the sun shining and a steady wind, fans came in droves to the beachfront stadium to see the stars of the EBSL in action.

Spain was the winner of game one, defeating France 6-3 and avenging their loss last week at the season opener in Tignes. Team captain Amarelle scored on the opening kickoff and Spain never trailed, going ahead 2-0 on a goal by Nico (7:55) and holding the lead for the duration. France’s Cardoso was extremely active as usual and cut the lead to one, scoring on a turn-and-shoot goal with under five minutes to go in the second period, in which France played well but was unable to convert the effort into goals. Amarelle scored twice in the first and third periods, jumping out to an early lead in the race for Top Scorer of the tournament and holding his position as overall season leader with 13.

Portugal gave the home fans plenty to cheer about as they beat Italy 5-2. Madjer started things off with a goal two and a half minutes into the game and the score remained 1-0 at the end of the first period. The Italian squad kept things close and in fact tied the affair at two apiece on a second-period goal by Fruzzetti (8:10) but Madjer responded a minute later with his third of the game, giving Portugal a lead that they would not surrender. Portugal, to the delight of the packed stadium, gave a strong team effort from start to finish, anchored by rock-solid play from goalkeeper Bruno, who blocked shot after shot, leaving the Italians frustrated and on the losing end of a 5-2 final score.

Saturday, July 23:
Saturday afternoon the fans at the packed stadium in Figueira da Foz got to see beach soccer the way it was meant to be: The sun shining without a cloud in sight, and a swift breeze to keep the fans refreshed throughout the afternoon.

The first game of the day saw Spain defeat Italy 2-1 in a come-from-behind victory in the game’s final minutes. Pasquali got Italy on the board three minutes into the game on a routine shot that slipped through the Spanish goalkeeper’s hands and crossed under his legs to enter the net. The two teams went scoreless for the following 25 minutes of play, unable to turn their opportunities into goals. Then with just over three minutes to go, as Spain’s David was setting up the ball for a corner kick, Amarelle came running over toward the sideline calling for the ball. David responded, playing the ball short to Amarelle instead of crossing it and in true superstar fashion Amarelle took the ball, dribbled around two defenders and fired the ball into the net (3:10), tying the contest at three. Two minutes later, Spain’s Eloy stunned Italy with a shot he blasted from near the far sideline and into the upper left corner of the goal (1:12), giving Spain the game winner.

Action continued as the hosts took on the defending league and world champs, who were coming off a loss in their first game Friday against Spain. Portugal started things off early with a goal by Madjer (1:33), who turned out to be the star of the game once again, scoring in each period including two in the first. France’s Edouard scored in the first and second periods, each time bringing his team within a goal of the Portuguese, but in the end the hosts were too much, pulling ahead with goals by Alan, Madjer and Belchior to bring the final score to 6-2 and set up an excellent matchup for the finale on Sunday afternoon, Spain vs. Portugal. Both teams have played well and are undefeated in the weekend’s tournament, the second of the young season. Madjer's brilliant performance brought him into a tie with Spain's Amarelle for the season lead in goals (15). Both players are averaging a hat trick per game (3 goals) and are on pace to break the all-time season mark of 40 goals, set by Madjer in 2001.

EBSL Stage 2 Scores and Schedule:
Figueira da Foz, Portugal (Group A)

Friday, July 22
Game 1: Spain 6, France 3
Game 2: Portugal 5, Italy 2

Saturday, July 23
Game 3: Spain 2, Italy 1
Game 4: Portugal 6, France 2

Sunday, July 24
2:15 p.m. - Game 5: France vs. Italy
followed by Game 6: Portugal vs. Spain

CURRENT GROUP A SEASON STANDINGS*:
Place Team (Record, Points)
1st Portugal (4-1, 12 points)
2nd Spain (3-2, 9 points)
3rd France (2-3, 6 points)
4th Italy (1-4, 3 points)


GROUP A SEASON LEADERS*

Goal scoring [Top 10]:
Rank Player.......................Goals
1st Amarelle (Spa)............15
" Madjer (Por)................15
3rd Tresoldi (Ita).................6
4th Sciortino (Fra)...............5
" Fruzzetti (Ita)....................5
" Alan (Por)..........................5
" Edouard (Fra)....................5
8th Eloy (Spa)......................4
9th Castro (Fra)...................3
" François (Fra)....................3
" Cardoso.............................3

Goalkeeper efficiency [Top 4]:
Rank Player..........................Save %
1st Roberto (Spa)...............74.7%
2nd Bruno (Por)...................72.1%
3rd Rastoll (Fra)..................69.0%
4th Scalabrelli (Ita)............56.7%

* Inlcudes games from Saturday, July 23

[verde-rubro]

Group A

· July 8 to 10, 2005
Tignes, France

· July 22 to 24, 2005
Figueira da Foz, Portugal

· July 29 to 31, 2005
Cervia, Italy

· August 5 to 7, 2005
Mallorca, Spain

Group B


· July 8 to 10, 2005
Linz, Austria

Group C


· August 5 to 7, 2005
Mallorca, Spain




Superfinal
· August 26 to 28, 2005
Marseille, France

[verde-rubro]

March


1 to 6 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2005 Americas Qualifier


May


9 to 15 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2005: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil


June


18 to 19 PBST: Bastia, France

25 to 26 PBST: Ajaccio, France


July


8 to 10 EBSL Group B event: Linz, Austria

8 to 10 EBSL French event, Group A: Tignes

22 to 24 EBSL Portugal event, Group A: Figueira de Foz

29 to 31 EBSL Italian event, Group A: Cervia


August


5 to 7 EBSL Spanish event, Groups A/C: Mallorca

5 to 7 PBST: Scheveningen, Netherlands

9 to 14 Mundialito: Portimão, Portugal

26 to 28 EBSL Superfinal: Marseille, France


September


2 to 4 European Championship: Istanbul, Turkey*

[verde-rubro]

Game recaps from Group B event - Linz, Austria**

Friday, July 8:
Germany got by England 6-2 in the opening game of the tournament. Mari scored three times for Germany, with teammates Schmitz (2 goals) and dos Santos (1 goal) adding to the total. England got on the board twice late in the game but was unable to overcome the deficit.

In the second game, Holland won a close one against Norway. Oomen scored twice for the Dutch team including the game winner with 3:25 left to play. They will move on to play Hungary on Saturday.

Hungary and Ukraine played Friday's third game, with the Hungarians coming out on top, 7-3. Ukraine got a surprise goal by netminder Lysenko to bring the team within a goal (4-3) but Hungary answered back, adding three goals to put the game out of reach and advance to the next round.

Tournament host Austria gave the home crowd a reason to cheer with its 4-3 win over Greece. The game was close until the endbut the Austrians, led by Brandstetter and Oberhammer, who scored 2 goals apiece, were able to withstand the pressure put on by the Hellas Beach Soccer squad.


Saturday, July 9:
England turned things around on Saturday with an overtime win against Greece. The game was tied at five and went to penalty kicks. Team captain Bowes converted in the first series and Greece was unable to match. England's Giancarlo was the star of the game with three goals.

Ukraine bounced back from a disappointing loss in round one to defeat Norway 6-2. Ukraine got two goals from Korieniev and put things out of reach with three in the third. Honorable mention for Norway's Frank Hansen, who scored on a spectacular bicycle kick from behind the midfield line.

Germany outlasted Austria in the day's first semifinal, 4-2. Luck was not with Team Austria, who had several shots bounce off the post and crossbar. Schmitz scored once and made a brilliant save on an Austrian shot that was headed for the back of the net.

Hungary will meet Germany on Sunday after their 8-4 victory over Holland in the second semifinal. Hungary's sharp shooter Vigh scored a pair, including a dazzling corner kick from the right side. The Hungarians got out to an early lead and Holland came charging back with goals in the third period but in the end it was too little, too late for the Dutch.

Sunday, July 10:
Hungary was crowned champion of Group B on Sunday afternoon in Linz, defeating Germany 5-4 thanks to Besenyei's goal with just 24 seconds remaining. Hungary got two goals from Vigh, who shared the honors of Top Scorer along with England's TD, scoring 6 apiece during the three-day tournament.

Austria defeated Holland 5-4 to take third place and secure their spot the Superfinal the last weekend of August. Austria's Brandstetter played another strong game, adding two goals in the winning effort. Holland's Renfurm also scored twice in the contest.

Fifth place went to Ukraine, who got defeated a banged-up England team 10-4. Ukraine's striker Pylypenko scored three times and was named MVP of the tournament, having played solidly throughout the weekend event. England's TD also registered a hat trick, moving him into the tie for Top Scorer of the Group B tournament.

The day's first game saw Greece get a 4-3 consolation win over Norway. Fratzeskos scored twice for the Greek team. Norway's Frank Hansen scored another long-range goal on a strong shot from behind midfield.

GROUP B TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Friday, July 8
Game 1 - Germany 6, England 2
Game 2 - Holland 3, Norway 2
Game 3 - Hungary 7, Ukraine 3
Game 4 - Austria 4, Greece 3

Saturday, July 9
Game 5 - England 5 (1*), Greece 5 (0*)
Game 6 - Ukraine 6, Norway 2
Semifinal Game 1 - Germany 4, Austria 2
Semifinal Game 2 - Hungary 8, Holland 4

Sunday, July 10
3:15 p.m. Greece 4, Norway 3 - 7th/8th place game
4:30 p.m. Ukraine 10, England 4 - 5th/6th place
6:00 p.m. Austria 5, Holland 4 - 3rd/4th place
7:15 p.m. Hungary 5, Germany 4 - Group B Tournament Final

*Penalty kick shootout


Final Group B Standings
1st place - Hungary
2nd place - Germany
3rd place - Austria
4th place - Holland
5th place - Ukraine
6th place - England
7th place - Greece
8th place - Norway

Note: Top 3 teams qualify for the Superfinal in Marseille.

[verde-rubro]

Group A

Sunday, July 24
Italy took on France in the first game of the final day of play at the EBSL Portuguese stage. Both teams were winless in their first two games. Italy struck first with late first-period goals from Carotenuto (1:09) and Agostini (0:05). France responded with one by team captain Edouard (8:09), the only goal of the second period in which the French technically played well but was unable to capitalize on their efforts. Midway through the final period, Pasquali scored twice in less than two minutes (8:22 and 6:44), including a tremendous individual effort on the second tally in which he trapped the ball with his chest and then bounced it on his knee while turning around to shoot the ball across his body and into the left side of the net. Carotenuto added his second of the game (6:27) giving the Italians a lead they would not relinquish. France tried to answer back with a spectacular diving header by Castro (6:04), who ran from midfield to score the goal. Three minutes later, Edouard followed with his second of the day on a pass from player-coach Eric Cantona inside the goal area (3:10) but Italy kept them at bay, putting the exclamation point on the victory with a successful penalty kick by Forte (3:37). Italy finished third in the tournament, leaving France winless (0-3).

The weekend finale was a highly anticipated matchup between Spain and host Portugal, which also featured the league’s top two scorers, Spain’s Amarelle and Portugal’s Madjer. Both teams had played well in their previous two games, each going undefeated. Portugal started out with the ball bouncing their way in the first period which saw them receive a gift from Spain, who scored on their own goal (9:53). Marinho followed it up with a goal on a 3-on-1 fast break for Portugal off a corner kick by Spain at the other end, making the score 2-1 to end the first period. Amarelle brought his team closer with a goal halfway through the second (8:19), the only goal of the period by either team. In the final segment, the hosts started to pull away with a goal by Madjer (10:38). Less than a minute later Alan added another (9:57), who took a crossing pass and sent the ball into the net on a fine header. On the ensuing kickoff, Amarelle fired the ball into the upper right corner of the Portuguese goal between the post and defenseman Hernâni. Spain continued to force the action, spraying shots and making Portugal goalkeeper Bruno come up with a number of diving saves but Portugal responded with some offensive pressure of its own by Belchior, Alan and Hernâni, preserving the 4-2 win for Portugal and breaking Spain’s win streak at two.

The event in Figueira da Foz was a crowd pleaser from start to finish, with crowds filling the stadium all three days to see some of Europe’s top stars in action. They were treated to fine plays each day including Madjer’s performance (8 goals), which earned him both Top Scorer and MVP trophies for the tournament. Portugal swept the awards ceremony, taking the event championship trophy as well as Madjer’s two individual awards and the Best Goalkeeper award for Bruno, who was phenomenal throughout the three-game tourney. The teams will have three days off before traveling on Thursday to Cervia, Italy, where they will prepare for the season’s third Group A event. Play begins Friday afternoon.


EBSL Stage 2 results:
Figueira da Foz, Portugal (Group A)

Friday, July 22
Game 1: Spain 6, France 3
Game 2: Portugal 5, Italy 2

Saturday, July 23
Game 3: Spain 2, Italy 1
Game 4: Portugal 6, France 2

Sunday, July 24
Game 5: Italy 6, France 3
Game 6: Portugal 4, Spain 2

CURRENT GROUP A SEASON STANDINGS*:
Place Team (Record, Points)
1st - Portugal (5-1, 15 points)
2nd - Spain (3-3, 9 points)
3rd - Italy (2-4, 6 points)
4th - France (2-4, 6 points)


GROUP A SEASON LEADERS*

Goal scoring [Top 10]:
Rank Player.......................Goals
1st Amarelle (Spa)..........17
2nd Madjer (Por).............16
3rd Edouard (Fra)..............6
3rd Tresoldi (Ita)..............6
3rd Alan (Por)...................6
6th Sciortino (Fra)............5
6th Fruzzetti (Ita).............5
6th Castro (Fra)...............5
9th Eloy (Spa)..................4
9th Pasquali (Ita).............4
9th Carotenuto (Ita).........4

Goalkeeper efficiency [Top 4]:
Rank Player............................Save %
1st Bruno (Por)....................89.74%
2nd Roberto (Spa)................89.66%
3rd Rastoll (Fra)...................83.00%
4th Scalabrelli (Ita).............73.28%

[Frank Cunha]

I almost forgot about our strong portuguese team

[UltraViseu]

Madjer is an aawesome beach soccer player. Kinda surprising. Maybe it was all of those years playing oin the desert.

[jec1]

What does the name mean?

[Frank Cunha]

Madjer was a Porto player, got famous in the final of the CL score a backheal goal against Bayern Munique for a Porto win, in 1987
this new guy just got his nickname, like Maniche got his name from the old Benfica striker Maniche of the 80's

Believe he was from Maroccos or Tunisia