MUSCAT: Oman beach soccer team suffered a 7-4 loss against Italy, runners-up of last edition of Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup, on Friday in the opening match of Group D at the underway 2025 Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup in Seychelles.
Despite the defeat in the opener, the Oman team players will look to compensate in the forthcoming match against El Salvador on Sunday in order to revive their chances of advancing to the knockout stage for the first time.
At the Paradise Arena in Mahe Islands, the opponents began the match strongly as they managed to score two goals in the first period through Tommaso Fazzini and Emmanuele Zurlo who provided their team a 2-0 lead. Oman’s response was strong as Sami al Balushi and Yahya al Murkhi managed to bring the match to the original point by striking two goals and making it 2-2 before the end of the first period.
In the following period of the match, the Azzurri team bounced back strongly as they visited the net of 2025 AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup runners-up through Luca Bertacca and Gianmarco Genovali to make a two-goal difference by 4-2.
Oman head coach Talib Hilal's instructions to the players were to focus more on the attacking area. Oman’s Musallam al Oraimi managed to reduce the gap to one goal as he netted the third goal for Oman by the end of the second period.
In the concluding half of the match, Oman’s mistakes at the back side were a lot as the opponents took advantage to score more goals. Italian Remedi and Josep JR gave a comfortable lead to the European side as they made the result 6-3. Oman’s star forward Yahya al Murkhi worked hard and managed to score the fourth goal for Oman and the second goal in the match but Italy’s Josep JR's goal in the dying minutes of match sealed the victory for his team as they ended the match with a 7-4 win. The triumph meant, Italy took the first three points in the group. Italy will meet world champions Brazil on Sunday while Oman will meet El Salvador on the same day.
In the other matches, both Asian representatives Japan and Iran registered a strong start as Japan beat Guatemala in Group A by 6-2. Iran, on the other side, earned their first three points following their crucial victory over Mauritania by 5-4 in Group B.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
