On Sunday, the Azzurri recorded their second win at the World Beach Games in Qatar: after a hard-fought battle, Emiliano Del Duca’s men ran out 5-3 winners against Mexico. Italy began brightly and took the lead in the fourth minute through Gori’s overhead kick. Three minutes later, the Azzurri extended their lead through Zurlo, who held off the attentions of Mosco Mendez and fired powerfully into the net. It seemed like Del Duca’s men were going to run riot, and at the start of the second period they scored a third through Gori. However, the Mexicans pulled themselves together and managed to draw level through Maldonado’s brace and then Vizcarra’s effort. Italy’s response after Mexico’s third was instant as Palmacci scored directly from kick-off. Gori then made it 5-3 to complete his hat-trick. Following this win, Italy sit on top of Group B along with Spain (who, just like the Azzurri did, beat the Solomon Islands 8-5). Qualification for the semi-finals will be decided on Monday, when Italy will come up against the Spaniards in a do-or-die clash.

“Today’s game was also a great one,” said Gabriele Gori after the match. “And now everything is on the line against Spain as we look to do as well as we can in this competition.” Meanwhile, Paolo Palmacci had the following to say: “It was an important win where we had to dig in. We knew that it wouldn’t be easy against Mexico, but we put everything into it. We’ll have to do the same against Spain in order to qualify for the last four.”

ITALY 5-3 MEXICO (2-0; 2-3; 1-0)

GOALS: first period: 4’ Gori (I), 7’ Zurlo (I); second period: 1’ Gori (I), 7’ Maldonado (M), 10’ Maldonado (M), 12’ Vizcarra (M), 12’ Palmacci (I); third period 3’ Gori (I)

Italy: Del Mestre, Marinai, Ramacciotti, Chiavaro, Gori; Carpita, Corosiniti, Zurlo, Palmacci, Percia Montani, Frainetti; Head Coach: Del Duca

Mexico: Villasenor, Rodriguez, Hernandez, Maldonado, Villa; Portilla, B. Mosco, Martinez, Samano, Sanchez, Vizcarra, Macias; Head Coach. Raya Mejia

Referees: Nassur (Mad), Ostrowski (Pol), Cortez (Ecu), Gomes (Port)

WORLD BEACH GAMES 2019

Schedule (all times CEST)

Group A: Brazil, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, Morocco
Group B: Italy, Spain, Mexico, Solomon Islands
Group C: Iran, Paraguay, Senegal, Ukraine
Group D: Russia, Japan, Uruguay, El Salvador

Group stage

11 October
Solomon Islands 5-8 Italy

13 October
Italy 5-3 Mexico

14 October
19:30 – Italy vs. Spain

Semi-finals (15 October)
16:30 – Group D vs. Group C
19:30 – Group A vs. Group B

Final fixtures (16 October)
16:30 – Third-place playoff
19:30 – Final