Both Argentina and Paraguay booked their tickets to the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Tahiti 2013 with semi-final victories yesterday, but the regional crown went to the home side thanks to a comprehensive 6-2 victory.
Paraguay started off very well and jumped ahead early, but Argentina were ultimately too much for Paraguay to handle as the hosts pulled away to a 6-2 win, delighting the 4,000 fans enjoying the festivities in Merlo, San Luis.
Although Paraguay lost, the landlocked nation has a lot to cheer about as they are heading to their first FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup later this year.
Brazil will be joining the two finalists in Tahiti after dispatching Ecuador 11-5 in the third-place match that was in reality much closer than the scoreline would indicate.
Four-time world champions Brazil were faced with the possibility of missing out on the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup for the first time if they couldn’t beat the Ecuadorians, after the surprising upset at the hands of Paraguay in yesterday’s semi-final.
Ecuador also proved to be a worthy opponent for the Brazilians, keeping the match extremely close through the first two periods of play. However, with Brazil only ahead 5-4 going into the final twelve minutes, the Seleção exploded in the third period creating a lead Ecuador could not rally against.
Bruno Xavier, who missed a penalty in the semi-final, scored five goals for Brazil. The South Americans join Japan and Argentina as the only teams to have qualified for every FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup to date.
The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is being hosted in Tahiti and will be held from September 17 to 28.
The OFC Beach Soccer Championship will be held from August 5 to 8 and will determine who from the region will join Tahiti’s Tiki Toa who have already qualified as hosts. The dates of the qualifiers for CAF and CONCACAF are yet to be determined.
Story courtesy of FIFA.com.
For more on the world game go to www.fifa.com

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