Italy miss out on a bronze medal at the World Beach Games. The Azzurri’s adventure in Qatar came to an end as they finished in fourth place of the 2019 World Beach Games. Emiliano Del Duca’s side lost their third/fourth place play-off to Iran on penalties after the game finished 5-5 in regular time.

Hamid’s save from Chiavaro’s penalty turned out to be decisive. After a first third which ended 2-0 to Iran, Italy really picked up the pace. Gori and Percia Montani brought the match back level in the second third, with the ten minute period dominated by the Azzurri. It was Gori once more at the heart of it all, scoring after just one minute. Ramacciotti then added another from a free kick. Iran managed to cut the defect with Ahmadzadeh, but the Azzurri then went a further two up thanks to a penalty won and converted by Frainetti. However, just when the Azzurri were flying high, Iran clawed their way back into the game. Mokhtari and Kiani both struck within the space of a minute, bringing the scores back level, with the game ending 5-5 after regular time. No goals were scored in the three minutes of extra time and the match went to a penalty shootout, with Hashempour’s men making no mistake in any of their efforts. Chiavaro took Italy’s first and had his penalty saved, and although Gori scored his, Kiani converted his too giving the bronze medal to Iran.

Italy returned home empty-handed, having won three and lost two over their five games played in the tournament (losses against Brazil and Iran on penalties). The team will be sure to look back on what went wrong, already turning their attentions to their next commitments which come at the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Paraguay.

Coach Emiliano Del Duca said the following: “There’s a lot of bitterness, because despite our performances in the tournament we’re coming away with nothing to show for it. I feel for the boys because they gave everything they had. The game was full of things which didn’t go our way. We created a lot of chances and I’ve got nothing but praise for my players. I’m satisfied with our performance but I’m aware that we need to improve our fitness: that will be our goal for the tournaments in the future.”

ITALY 6-8 IRAN decided on penalties (5-5) (0-2; 2-0; 3-3)

Goals: 2’ft Masoumi (IR), 5’ft Mokhtari (IR), 7’st Gori (I), 10’st Percia Montani (I); 1’tt Gori (I), 1’tt Ramacciotti (I), 2’tt Ahmadzadeh (IR), 4’tt Frainetti (I), 9’tt Mokhtari (IR), 10’tt Kiani (IR)

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

Iran: Hamid, M. Kiani, Mokhtari, M. Ahmadzadeh, M. Masoumi; P. Hosseini, A.H. Akbari, H. Abdollahi, M. Shir, Ali, Piramon, Hadi; Coach: Hashempour

Referees: Estevao (BRA), Cortez (ECU), Planchais (TAH), Mammadov (AZE)

Penalties: Ahmadzadeh (IR) goal, Chiavaro (I) saved, Akbari (IR) goal, Gori (I) goal, Kiani (IR) goal

Groups

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

Group Stage results
Solomon Islands 5-8 Italy
Italy 5-3 Mexico
Spain 4-5 Italy

Semi-finals (15 October)
Russia 6-2 Iran
Brazil 7-5 Italy

Finals (16 October)
3rd/4th Italy 6-8 Iran (decided on penalties)
1st/2nd 19:30: Brazil vs. Russia