With a 4-2 victory over Azerbaijan in the quarter-finals of the European qualifiers the Swiss booked their passage to Portugal.
The star of that victory was two-goal Dejan Stankovic, the player of the tournament when his country finished runners-up at the 2009 world finals.
After beating Spain in extra time 5-4 to progress to the final, the dream run was eventually ended by reigning world champions Russia who took the regional title with a 6-5 victory and earned a berth in Portugal with it.
Russia, current two-time world champions, convincingly beat a spirited Romania side 5-2 to top Group 3 and earn their place in the semi-finals where a 5-3 victory over Italy saw them through to the final.
Following in those two nations’ footsteps were Tahiti 2013 runners-up Spain and Italy after both made it to the semi-finals.
Second place finishers at Tahiti 2013, the Spaniards, were three goals down against Ukraine before making it 6-6 two minutes from time and confimed their place in the top four of the tie by winning on penalties 4-3.
Hosts Italy were made to work extra hard to earn a tight 4-2 victory over Belarus. In a tense match, Italy took the lead in the final period behind a strong performance from Gori, who had two goals on the night.
After both sides were downed by their semi-final opponents they had only the glory of a podium finish in their sights as they kicked off in the play-off for 3rd place.
In the end Italy proved the stronger side as they downed Spain 5-4 to claim third place.
Story courtesy of FIFA.com
For more on the world game go to www.fifa.com

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