Slurred start from Russia and the disqualification of the head coach

The start of the beach soccer world championship turned out to be discouraging for the Russian team. It seemed that after a four-year absence at the championship of the planet, the wards of Mikhail Likhachev will, as before, fight for medals.

Moreover, the domestic team held the home qualifying tournament of the planet’s championship in one breath, defeating Spain and Italy as well. The lottery of the final stage did not promise problems for the Russians, which defined them as rivals quite passable Senegal, the UAE and Belarus.

However, in fact, two-time world champions from the very beginning in Paraguay had difficulties. In the first match, Russia, at the cost of incredible efforts, only in the end snatched the victory from Senegal - 8: 7. It seemed that this was only an isolated case, and then everything will go on for the Likhachev team like clockwork.

But, unfortunately, in the second match the team completely lost to the UAE - 1: 4, which was already difficult to explain due to the intense heat and lack of luck. In addition, the disqualification for disputes with the arbitrator earned Likhachev, who was replaced on the bench by eminent assistant Ilya Leonov.

Thus, the team unexpectedly ended up in limbo. Now, in the last round, in order to get into the playoffs, she needed to beat the debutants of Belarusians. By the way, the neighbors themselves started the tournament shockingly: they confidently broke the resistance just in the UAE - 5: 1, but then they lost significantly to Senegal - 2: 7. So the situation in group C escalated to the limit, because all four teams had three points in the asset.

The failed first period and goalkeeper errors

Unfortunately, the first period only confirmed that the Russian team had serious problems. Likhachev decided from the very beginning to release the reserve goalkeeper Pavel Bazhenov, and not the main goalkeeper Maxim Chuzhkov, who made mistakes in the game with the UAE, but this move absolutely did not justify itself.

The Spartak goal guard missed two optional goals at once. At first, he could not save the team after hitting himself with the main star of the Belarusians Igor Brishtel, and then he was unable to fend off a shot from Ivan Konstantinov with a fairly far penalty.

By that time, the score was 1: 3 not in favor of Russia. The disqualified Likhachev only sadly looked at the site. At the first goal scoring, the Russians also could not do without a mistake. Only this time it was not Bazhenov who was to blame, but Arthur Paporotny, who inaccurately rolled the shell back to the goalkeeper, which the opponent took advantage of.

But the Russians quickly responded with an accurate blow from Boris Nikonorov. Following the Belarusians scored twice, and Bazhenov gave way to the last frontier Chuzhkov.

The coup from the Russian team and the ultimate rigidity

How unsuccessful the first period was for the Russians, the second was so successful. It was felt that the two-time world champions were determined to correct the situation.

Already at the 14th minute of the meeting, world championship debutant Fedor Zemskov, after a corner, showed remarkable coordination and sent the ball into the goal. And almost immediately Nikonorov reminded himself. Forward “Locomotive”, taking advantage of the neat transmission of Fern, struck his head into an empty corner. So the score quickly equaled.

It seemed that the Russians would immediately try to finish what they started to end, but in fact, there were no more goals scored until the last break. Belarusians knocked down the opponent's attacking mood with their tough game and acted with great desire.

The air literally felt tension, and the players acted more and more rudely. So, a yellow card earned Alexei Makarov. This “mustard plaster” was the second for the team leader in the tournament, and he won’t appear on the court in the quarterfinals.

Incredible ending and hat-trick debutant

In the final period, emotions completely escalated to the limit. Before the judge whistled, the young Andrei Novikov flew into the goalkeeper of the opponents at full speed. He answered with selective swearing. And the Russian team was soon to be disqualified, in addition to Makarov, and Paporny, who also received a second yellow card in the championship.

Moments were rare, but both teams exchanged hits in the racks. In Russia, Makarov hit the post, and in Belarus - Konstantinov, and the latter almost twisted the shell into the target from the corner mark.

Things slowly but surely went to extra time, however, the denouement nevertheless occurred a little earlier and turned out to be happy for the domestic team. For 2.5 minutes, Nikonorov sent the ball into the net after a beautiful pass by Novikov and scored a hat-trick. The World Cup debutant became a real hero of the match and brought the number of goals in the current tournament to five.

Captain Anton Shkarin, who just turned 37 years old, put a “point” at the very end. Thus, the Russian team showed character and managed to save the fateful game after a failed first period. Separately, it is worth noting Chuzhkov, whom Belarusians failed to break through.

However, in the quarterfinals the team will have to be even more difficult, because the current world champion Brazil will become the rival of the Likhachev team. At the same time, one of the main favorites of the tournament will be played without two leaders, Makarov and Paporny.