Courtesy: Press TV


Russia in Futsal World Cup semis

Wed, 15 Oct 2008

Russia has held Argentina to a 2-2 draw to join Brazil, Italy and defending champion Spain in the semifinals of the 2008 Futsal World Cup.

Tuesday's draw in Rio de Janeiro was enough to see Ivanov Oleg's men reach the final four and set up a rematch with hosts Brazil in the process.

Martin Amas put Argentina, under coach Lopez Sergio, ahead in the fifth minute when he turned the ball in from Leandro Planas' right-wing cross.

However, Russia's Konstantin Dushkevich leveled the score with only three minutes of the first half remaining.

In a thrilling end to the game, Russia battled back to take the lead through Dmitry Prudnikov with just eight minutes to go, only to see Esteban Gonzalez find the target for the 2004 semifinalists Argentina four minutes before the final whistle.

This is the second time the Russians have earned a semifinal berth in their history after Guatemala 2000.

In other matches, Brazil edged Ukraine 5-3, Iran drew 5-5 against Italy and Paraguay lost 1-4 to Spain.






Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com