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SOLOMONS GO DOWN FIGHTING IN BEACH WORLD CUP OPENER
Friday, 18 July 08, 09:08 AM
Italy exhausted a courageous effort from Solomon Islands to win 7-4 in what proved a fitting curtain-raiser to Marseille 2008.
Paolo Palmacci shone for the Europeans, while Gibson Hosea's brace kept the Bilikiki Boys in contention before he was sent off.
The Italians made an explosive start, scoring twice inside the first 71 seconds courtesy of Palmacci and Simone Feudi. James Naka halved the deficit, but Francesco Corosoniti's thunderous volley and a Giusepe Soria strike sent the Azzurri in 4-1 up at the first break. It was 6-4 by the end of the second period, Roberto Pasquali and Giuseppe Condorelli on target for the Italians.
The final 12 minutes proved tight, with and own goal completing the scoring and ensured that Italy went straight to the top of Group A.
Solomon Islands goalscorer James Naka was resolute in defeat.
"It was a very hard game. Although we lost I'm not too disappointed, because Italy are a really good team. It was a great honour to play in the World Cup, and I was really proud to represent my country and my island. It's our ambition to reach the second round and we still believe we can do this."
Italian player Diego Maradona - son of the World Cup winning Argentinian legend - was wrought with emotion after the final whistle.
"This was a very special day for me. I was so emotional to represent Italy, it was very important to me to do this for my mother. I'm still learning beach soccer and I enjoyed today very much, but the most important thing is that Italy win. My dream is for an Italy-Argentina final."
In the groups other match Portugal cruised to an 8-2 win over El Salvador
Highlights from the match can be found here
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup - Marseille 2008 Group B Standings
| Team |
MP |
W |
W+ |
L |
GF |
GA |
Pts |
| Portugal |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
2 |
3 |
| Italy |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
4 |
3 |
| Solomon Islands |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
7 |
0 |
| El Salvador |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
8 |
0 |
Italy (ITA) Statistics Solomon Islands (SOL)
0 Shots 0
26 Shots on goal 11
7 Goals 4
5 Fouls Committed 9
9 Fouls Suffered 4
7 Corner kicks 4
8 Free kicks 4
1 / 1 Penalty Kicks (Goals/Shots) 0 / 0
2 Overheads 0
0 Own goals 1
1 Yellow cards 0
0 Second yellow card and red card 1
0 Red Cards 0
0 Actual playing time 0
50% Possession (%) 50%
Photos courtesy of FIFA Media.
Posted by OFC · Comments (18)
Topics: OFC Beach Soccer 2008 OCEANIA Solomon Islands
Tags: OFC Beach Soccer 2008 OCEANIA Solomon Islands
0
Well done boy, I congratulate you for your effort. Your are plaing against the world power house and I'm so proud that you guys can score agains your oponent. Go Bilikiki go, Go Oceania Go!!!!
0
Well done boy, I congratulate you for your effort. Your are plaing against the world power house and I'm so proud that you guys can score agains your oponent. Go Bilikiki go, Go Oceania Go!!!!
No friendly matches must be one of the contributing factors to this defeat.
Wish you best in the two remaining
matches.
mifala flow behind iufala!!
bilikiki!!!
The boys were physically fit but not match fit. Meaning that they could not settle down early but later in the game.
Small as it may seem but that in my oppinion was the
telling factor. No blame game here but it would have been very nice to have as much match game time to properly condition the boys before the tournament. Anyway circumstances dictate situations
so we just have to take note & improve more on planning next time.
Focus on the next game and do the best you can cos that is all we can ask of you. You have already done us proud so keep
flying.
Cheers and best wishes to you in your game againts Portugal.
Go Bilikiki go Solo go Oceania go