(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The atmosphere at the Kite Beach in Jumeirah for the Iran-Egypt match had to been seen to be believed. Fans from both countries livened up the proceedings at the 3,500-seater, state of the art stadium with drum beats and horns. There was also music reverberating from one end to rev up the mood, and with the crowd doing the Mexican wave it was just the ideal place to be at on a Friday.
At the end of the action-packed 36 minutes, Iran booked their place in the final of the Huawei Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup Dubai with a 3-1 win over Egypt.
The Asian champions and winners of the 2013 competition, take on Russia in the final on Saturday.
The European champions ended two-time defending champions Brazil's 66-game winning streak with an 8-6 outcome via the tie-breaker in the other semifinal.
UAE were surprisingly beaten 3-5 by USA in the playoffs of the five-day tournament being organised by the Dubai Sports Council. Although Ahmed Beshr gave the hosts an early lead and Ali Karim and Ali Mohammad added to the tally, the hosts lacked spark. The players looked demotivated and uninterested as was evident from the drooping shoulders and lack of energy. Nicolas Perera capitalised on it to notch his hat trick, while Christopher Albiston and Tomas Canale chipped in with one goal each as USA walked away with a 5-3 verdict.
UAE will take on Tahiti for seventh and eighth placings. Twice world cup runners-up Tahiti were humiliated by Spain 1-9. La Roja will clash with USA for fifth and sixth placings. Meanwhile, the Iranians, who are third in the world rankings, found world ranked No. 17 Egypt a tough nut to crack.
The first half of 12 minutes saw the Pharaohs do well to keep the slate clean by going on the defensive. That meant that the crowd was getting impatient and once Iran got the breakthrough from Mohammad Masoumizadeh's goal, with three minutes to go in the second period, the noise rose to a crescendo.
Ali Mirshekari added another in the seventh minute of the third period and it looked like Iran were taking it easy until Mostafa Samir pulled one back from a penalty for Iran. Egypt's joy was, however, short-lived as Mostafa Kiani Harchegani scored from the halfway mark although the ball deflected off a defender.
MENAFN1211201800490000ID1097687022
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.