The national team of Ukraine in beach soccer reached the Superfinal of the Euroleague-2021

19.06.2021 17:10

Despite the defeat in the match against Portugal, the Ukrainian beach soccer team secured a place in the Superfinal of the Euroleague-2021.

After difficult victories in extra time over Germany and in the penalty shootout over Azerbaijan today the beach soccer team of Ukraine completed the qualifying tournament of the Euroleague-2021 in Nazareth, Portugal. Mykola Kostenko's wards were opposed by the leader of the world rating - the national team of Portugal. 

However, the blue and yellows did not give up in front of a serious opponent, and in the first half in the 4th minute Dmytro Voitenko led our team forward with a bicycle. Moreover, in the second 12 minutes Voitenko made a double from the penalty spot and made a strong bid for the victory of the Ukrainians in this confrontation. Unfortunately, in the last second of the period, Rui Coimbra reduced the gap of the Portuguese - 1: 2. 

Mario Narciso's charges continued to attack, and in the 29th minute Leonardo Martins equalized. But the blue-yellows found the strength to score another ball into the goal of a formidable opponent. Ruben Brilliante, who scored an own goal, helped them in this. Despite this, Martins did not allow the Ukrainians to celebrate the victory and turned the game into overtime - 3: 3. 

An additional three minutes, the winner was also not found, and the teams were forced to score a penalty. Dmytro Medvid and Andriy Pashko did not make a mistake, but the goalkeeper Maksym Voitko and Oleksandr Korniychuk parried the goalkeeper. The Portuguese realized all their attempts. As a result, the defeat of the national team of Ukraine on penalties - 2: 4 in a game for which there is no shame. 

In today's second match in our group, the German national team defeated Azerbaijan in extra time - 5: 4. 

Thus, the national team of Ukraine with three points took second place in qualifying group A and, regardless of the results of the remaining matches, secured participation in the Euroleague Superfinal 2021, which will be held September 8-12 in the Portuguese town of Figueira da Foz. 

Euroleague-2021. Qualifying tournament. Division A. Group A. Round 3

Portugal - Ukraine - 3: 3, on penalties - 4: 2

Goals: Coimbra (24), Martins (29, 33) - Voitenko (4, 21, from the penalty spot), Brilliante (32, own goal).

Ukraine: Nerush, Hladchenko, Sabatyuk, Sirenko, Zavorotnyi, I. Borsuk, Zborovskyi, Pachev, Voitok, Korniichuk, Shcherytsya, Pashko, Makeyev, Medvid, Voitenko, Hlutskyi.

Standings

The next tournament for Mykola Kostenko's wards will be the qualification for the 2021 World Cup, which will start on June 21 in Nazareth.