Ittihad Kalba stun Fujairah in UAE Beach Soccer

Ittihad Kalba stunned Fujairah Club 8-7 to give things an interesting turn in Group B of the 2013 UAE Beach Soccer League being played at the Al Mamzar Beach Park earlier this weekend. Ittihad Kalba, who had lost to group leaders Al Nasr 4-7 and Fujairah Club, who had secured a shock 7-5 result against fancied Al Wasl in Round 4 matches last week, revived their fortunes for a place in the semi-finals. Ittihad Kalba fought with their backs against the wall for a 8-7 win over Fujairah Club to take their tally to six points – the same number of points as Fujairah and Al Wasl. Next weekend’s sixth and final round of matches will decide the second qualifier from Group B as Ittihad Kalba take on Al Wasl and Fujairah Club face leaders Al Nasr. Al Nasr woke up late in their match against Al Wasl to finally seal full points with a 7-4 drubbing. After being tied 1-1 at the end of the first period, Al Wasl did well to go clear 2-1 through a strike from skipper Hyder Abbas. But Al Nasr took things in control in the third and final period with their Iranian striker Mohammad Ahmad notching a second hat-trick in as many weeks, while Adel Al Rahi, Ali Karim, Abbas Ali and Lebanese playmaker Haitham Fattal got their names on the scoreboard once each to ensure full points for the men in blue. The 2013 UAE Beach Soccer League had taken a break of more than a month and a half to enable the UAE national team to participate in the Asian leg qualifiers for the 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Tahiti that were held in Doha in January. The UAE  beat Australia 3-2 in the third place play-off to qualify for the Tahiti Beach Soccer WC. The UAE Beach Soccer season had opened in October with the Super Cup followed by the President’s Cup. Al Nasr had defeated Al Ahli in the President’s Cup final in October only to see Portuguese star striker Madjer scoring a hat-trick and help Al Ahli beat their arch-rivals from Oud Metha 5-1 and successfully defend their crown in the Super Cup final in November.  Source : gulftoday