Ukraine's refusal, 52 tons of sand and fans in the stands: what you need to know about the Beach Soccer World Cup in Moscow

Conditions

The first ever World Beach Soccer Championship in Russia was supposed to take place last year.

However, the tournament had to be postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the struggle for the championship, the country was ahead of Chile (Easter Island) and El Salvador.

The advantages of the application were a larger budget and a rich organizational experience after the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The hosts really approached the competition on a grand scale.

A stadium was built specifically for the championship near the Luzhniki sports complex.

And most importantly, the arena will be able to receive fans.

The stands were allowed to fill up to 50%.

Moreover, it will not be necessary to have a QR code or a negative test for coronavirus with you.

As for the players, according to the director of the organizing committee of the tournament Ilya Volodarsky, they will have to take tests every 72 hours.

Traditionally 16 teams will compete for medals in Moscow.

It is curious that initially the Ukrainian team was also supposed to come to Russia, but the neighbors refused to participate a little more than a month before the start of the championship.

Favorites

Brazil traditionally stands out, which brought a very powerful roster to the tournament.

The Latinos are five-time world champions and last took gold in 2017.

Many of that roster remained in the ranks.

The current world champions at the moment are the Portuguese.

However, it will not be easy for them to defend the title, since the main star of the team, Jordan Santos, arrived in Moscow not in the best physical condition and only recovered from his injury at the last moment.

Among the favorites is Spain, which always shows good results in major competitions.

Finally, the players from Tahiti cannot be discounted.

They reached the World Cup finals twice in 2015 and 2017.

Of course, only victories at home will be expected from the owners.

The Russians in 2011 and 2013 climbed to the top step of the podium, but since then they have been content with bronze at best.

The home world championship is the perfect place to fix that.

The wards of Mikhail Likhachev are also considered favorites among the bookmakers.

However, at number one they still have the Brazilians.

So, one of the well-known bookmakers offers to bet on their victory with the odds of 1.9.

This is followed by Russia (3.6), Portugal (5.5) and Spain (7).

Another gives similar figures: Brazil (1.85), Russia (3.7), Portugal (5.5) and Spain (7.5).

It is curious that even Likhachev admitted that it is the yellow-greens that are the main contenders for gold.

“I always say that they are favorites in any competition, they have a very high level of players.

Our goal is to go from match to match, all my thoughts are occupied with the game on August 19 against the US national team, ”quotes the Bsrussia specialist.

Surely, the Italian national team could show an excellent result in Moscow, but it sensationally did not qualify for the World Cup.

In the quarterfinals of qualification "Squadra Azzurra", which occupies the third position in the world ranking, lost in extra time to Spain - 4: 5.

Together with the team, its main star will not come to Russia - the master of scissors Gabriele Gori, who won the "golden boot" as the top scorer at the last two world championships.

Also, strong Mexicans and Argentines did not make it to the tournament.

Groups

The distribution of teams into groups turned out to be quite even.

Among the four quartets, there is no frankly "lethal" one.

Russia, one might say, was lucky with the lot.

Likhachev's team should beat the USA and Paraguay.

But with the Japanese, who in 2019 reached the semifinals of the World Cup, difficulties may arise.

By the way, it was with Asians that domestic footballers met in the bronze medal match and won - 5: 4.

Perhaps the most even turned out to be Group C, which brought together Belarus, El Salvador, Switzerland and Brazil.

If almost everything is clear with the national team, which will take first place, then a serious struggle will unfold for the second ticket to the playoffs.

The Belarusians pleasantly surprised the fans by taking the fourth place in the selection for the World Cup.

The Swiss were eliminated there in the quarterfinals.

Finally, the Salvadorans are the strongest CONCACAF team.

Spain and Tahiti are likely to leave Quartet B further.

Debutants from Mozambique, as well as a team from the UAE, will compete for only third place.

But in Group D, Portugal's problems may well be caused by Senegal, which reached the quarterfinals in the last two World Championships.

At the last World Cup, the Africans in the playoffs just lost to the future champions (2: 4), and now they will try to take revenge.

Uruguay will also fight for getting into the top two.

But Oman is destined for the role of an outsider.

Stars

The championship of the planet in Russia will turn out to be as representative as possible in terms of names, because a number of beach soccer stars have arrived in Moscow.

As already mentioned, Portugal will be led ahead by the health-conscious Santos.

In 2019, he helped his team win the World Cup, and at the same time was recognized as the best player on the planet.

Domestic fans should remember him well from playing for Spartak.

It is hoped that the damage will not prevent the attacker from demonstrating all his skill.

“In the process of rehabilitation over the past few weeks, I have added tremendously.

The fact is that when the pandemic began, I performed an operation, recovered, started training with the national team, and then injured the same knee again, albeit in a different place, ”the athlete said.

And on the last frontier of the current title holders, experienced Elinton Andrade, two-time world champion, will again play.

In addition, he was twice (in 2016 and 2018) recognized as the best goalkeeper on the planet.

But the Brazilians have the most powerful line-up.

Moreover, all the leaders of the yellow-greens have experience of playing in Russia.

Here are the superbomber Rodrigao, who won the “silver boot” at the 2017 World Cup, and the best football player in the world in 2017, Mauricinho, and Datiña, who also played in Russia for a long time.

All of them are determined only to win gold medals.

“I followed the classification of the Brazilians.

I am happy and confident that we will perform well at the World Championships.

I don’t think there is any definite favorite, all the teams arrived prepared and with good chances of winning, ”said Mauricinho.

True, this time the team will not be helped by the most experienced defender and captain Bruno Xavier.

He did not even take part in the qualifying matches.

The veteran explained this by the fact that, speaking in Europe, it is difficult for him to get to South America due to coronavirus restrictions, as well as the rejuvenation of the composition.

In general, there are so many strong players in Brazil that some even play for other national teams.

The most revealing example is Ozu Moreira, who has long represented Japan.

Moreover, in the team he is both the captain and the head coach.

In 2019, under his leadership, the Asians sensationally reached the semifinals of the World Cup.

Llorens Gomez will lead the Spaniards forward.

In 2018, he was named the best player in the world.

Domestic fans may well support him, because Gomez is currently playing for Kristall from St. Petersburg.

In the past, he defended the colors of Lokomotiv.

It is impossible not to mention the seemingly eternal Swiss Dejan Stankovic.

He is already 35 years old, and has been playing for the national team of his country since 2005.

Actually, in 2009, he actually single-handedly led the national team to the final of the world championship.

Like many other stars of this sport, the striker managed to play in Russia and even twice became the champion of the country with Lokomotiv.

Finally, the composition of the national team is very representative.

There are enough people in the roster who won two world championships in 2011 and 2013: Alexey Romanov, Yuri Krasheninnikov, Dmitry Shishin, Anton Shkarin.

And Anton Ferorotny went to the 2011 World Cup, but did not participate in the next tournament.

In general, Likhachev has assembled a very experienced team.

An indicative moment: only five players under the age of 30 appear in the hosts' application: Andrei Novikov, Ostap Fedorov, Denis Parkhomenko, Stanislav Kosharny and Andrei Kotenev.

The main roles in the team are still played by older performers.

So, Shkarin has been playing for the national team since 2005 and during this time he spent about 300 meetings for her.

And 35-year-old Shishin with 235 goals remains her top scorer.