Valiant Oman exits after going down to Portugal 1-3
Talib Hilal’s men bowed out of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Paraguay 2019 with their heads held high after making fancied and former champion Portugal struggle to a 3-1 win in a Group D match at the Los Pynandi Stadium in Asuncion on Tuesday.
The loss meant Oman will now head home after its third appearance at the global beach soccer tournament. Earlier this week, Oman recorded only its second-ever win at the World Cup when it beat Nigeria 6-5. The previous win was against Costa Rica at the 2015 World Cup in Espinho, Portugal.
The win secured the 2015 champion a spot in the quarterfinals along with group topper and defending champion Brazil.
Oman made Portugal sweat as both sides exchanged goals in the first period through Coimbra’s penalty and Jalal al Sinani’s free header.
Be Martins scored the only goal of the second period and it was a beauty. The diminutive and skilful player hit a blistering shot into the top corner from distance, with Oman’s Younis al Owaisi left helpless.
Martins turned provider after that, laying on an accurate and low cross for brother Leo to tap in at the back post.
The Portuguese continued their run of attaining at least the quarterfinal stage in the nine tournaments in which they have participated.
Brazil, meanwhile, trounced Nigeria 12-2 to confirm its credentials as a top contender.
Also, Senegal, Portugal and Russia won their third and final matches of the group stage to book a spot in the quarterfinals.
Quarterfinals line-up: Brazil vs Russia, Senegal vs Portugal, Italy vs Switzerland, Japan vs Uruguay.