Wrapping up the Futsal European Championship: 2/8/2014.

Scenes of jubilation were common throughout a tense Final match of the Futsal European Championship. But let's take a step back to the Semi-Finals where Portugal faced Italy and Russia took on Spain. In the first of the two, the Portuguese put up a good fight against the Italians. While Gabriel Lima put the Italians in the lead before the end of the first minute, Ricardinho and Arnaldo Pereira struck once each for the Iberians to make it 2-1. Romano equalized in the 22nd minute for the Italians before Gabriel Lima struck his second and Fortino made it 2-4 by the 34th minute. Despite the Portuguese getting the last goal in the 34th minute, making it 3-4, Joel Queiros' goal made for an exhilarating final few minutes but it was to no avail as the Italians booked their Final ticket leaving Portugal to contest the third place spot with the loser of the Russia-Spain match. Over to the other Semi-Final now, the Spaniards got off to a fine start with the opening goal in the 16th minute through Pola. However, Russia reacted powerfully with Sergeev and Lyskov making it 2-1 in the 22nd and 26th minutes respectively. Rafael Usin brought the Iberians level in the 26th minute though Fukin kept the eastern Europeans in the lead before the 26th minute had run out. Nevertheless, Miguelin brought the sides level 3-3 in the 37th minute. Keeping the sides level for the last three minutes of regulation time, one five minute period of extra time went by without a breakthrough. Finally, in the second period of extra time, Robinho struck the Russians ahead in the 48th minute meaning they just had to hold the line for two minutes. Despite intense pressure, they were able to do just that, pitting them against Italy in the Final while Spain and Portugal faced off in the 3rd Place match. As for that match for third, Portugal and Spain treated the world to a feast of football: Fernandao, Jose Ruiz, and Lozano struck for Spain three times before the 7th minute, making it 0-3 for the Spaniards. Ricardinho and Pedro Cary gave the Portuguese a chance with two goals before the twelfth minute though two more goals - from Miguelin and Rafael Usin - secured Spain's victory. 2-5, Raul Campos struck in the 19th minute for Spain before Pedro Costa and Joel Queiros made it 4-6. To add insult to injury, the defending futsal world champions struck twice more, through Fernandao and Pola, making the third-place match the highest-scoring in the competition's history! As for the Final, Italy and Russia gave us a tremendous contest with Gabriel Lima putting the southern Europeans in the lead for a little over three minutes until Eder Lima equalized in the ninth minute. The match could well have gone either way, but it was the Italians who pushed on to victory, striking twice between the 13th and 18th minutes through Murilo and Giasson to take a firm lead before the halftime break. Despite 42 efforts, 9 more than the Italians, the Russians were unable to crack Italy's defenses and in fact lost Cirilo to a second yellow card in the 33rd minute making the last seven minutes of the game a rubber stamp as the southern Europeans won their first title since 2003. Hope you enjoyed the matches!