With Zurlo and Palazzolo suspended, Sciacca carrying an injury and Gori still out, the National Beach Soccer Team lost their third-fourth place play-off to Spain at the Euro Beach Soccer League Superfinal in Figueira Da Foz in Portugal. A decimated Italy fought until the very end, but the Spaniards won 4-1 thanks to Antonio's brace and goals from Adri Frutos and Chiky. The match was even until two minutes from the end, when Spain scored two to kill off Italy as they surged forward in search of a draw. Palmacci’s shot hitting the post a few seconds before the end of the game confirmed that fate did not smile on the Azzurri in these Superfinals. Italy can have some consolation in the fact that Emmanuele Zurlo, despite not playing the last game, was awarded the Golden Boot of the tournament with eight goals. There will still however be a blue presence in the final, with the game refereed by Italian official Gionni Matticoli. Coach Emiliano Del Duca reflected on the competition: "This fourth place does nothing to satisfy us, we would have liked to repeat last year’s success. The team played well in the first two games showing a good understanding and fitness level. The match we lost to Portugal really drained some of our energy and adrenaline, and we deserved to lose against Spain. However, we’ve won 15 of our last 19 games. I'm not throwing everything away, I'll think about what went wrong and what didn’t work. The first part of the season is over, we qualified for the World Beach Games, the World Championship and we won gold at the Mediterranean Beach Games. I’d like to thank the staff and the players, we haven’t stopped working since April. When we’re back we’ll work even harder to improve further.”

THE MATCH

SPAIN 4-1 ITALY (1-0; 1-1; 2-0)

Spain: Dona, Antonio, Cintas, Adri Frutos, Edu, Llorenc, Chiky, Javi Torres, David, Josè Arias, Pablo. Coach: Joaquin Alonso

Italy: Del Mestre, Carpita, Corosiniti (Cap.), Chiavaro, Ramacciotti, Frainetti, Josep Jr, Marinai, Palmacci, Sciacca. Coach: Emiliano Del Duca

Referees: Antonio Pereira (Por), Sergio Soares (Por), Torsten Guenther (Ger), Victor Listratov (Rus)

Goals: 8’fp Adri Frutos (S); 7’sp og. David (S), 11’sp Antonio (S); 10’tp Antonio (S), 12’tp Chiky (S)

RESULTS

Group 2

Day 1 - Thursday 5 August

Italy 5-4 Ukraine

Turkey 5-9 Portugal

Day 2 - Friday 6 August

Portugal 3-1 Ukraine

Italy 7-2 Turkey

Day 3 - Saturday 7 August

Ukraine 7-9 Turkey (won on penalties, 6-6 normal time)

Portugal 8-6 Italy

Rankings: Portugal 9, Italy 6, Turkey 1, Ukraine 0

Finals - Sunday 8 August

7th/8th place Switzerland 7-9 Ukraine

5th/6th place Belarus 5-4 Turkey

3rd/4th place Spain 4-1 Italy

1st/2nd place Russia 2-4 Portugal