UAE win as Brazilians survive Omani scare

The UAE convincingly beat Group A minnows Tahiti 6-2 in the late kick-off, thanks to Rashid Ahmad (2), Rami El Mesaabi (2), Saeed Yousif and Adel Ranjbar. Tahiti hit back through Naea Bennett and Yannick Vero at the other end.

The Gulf region’s first of two representatives last night seemed set to pull off a seismic shock when their lanky striker Hani Al Dhabat gave them a surprising 1-0 first-period lead.

However, Guga Zloccowick’s Samba stars soon found their feet and relentless rhythm to eventually run out 5-2 to the good in the end.

Betinho drew the South Americans level and great work between Sidney and Anderson resulted in the former finding the target for 2-1.

A Bruno Xavier brace and an Andre free-kick pulled Brazil further clear and out to a position of relative safety.

Another Al Dhabat goal bookended this Group B match nicely with his – and Oman’s – second of the evening.

Earlier, recent FIFA Beach World Cup winners Russia underlined their credentials by thrashing Nigeria 8-1 in Group A.

A flurry of early goals saw four strikes netted in as many minutes in the opening period. Captain Egor Shaykov and Yuri Gorchinskiy put Russia 2-0 in front, before Victor Tale halved the deficit following a gaffe by shot-stopper Alexander Filimonov.

That effort was to be a rare moment of respite for the African side though as Russia began to progressively stamp their authority and class on proceedings.

An Egor Eremeev free-kick put them 3-1 up and further second-period efforts by Alexey Makarov and Shaykov took this one-sided game away from their outclassed opponents.

Russia were not finished there either, with Anatoliy Peremitin and Eremeev making it 7-1 prior to a match moment that clearly highlighted the gulf in quality.

Nigeria allowed the ball to run loose at a poorly-taken restart and one lofted pass through let in Yuri Krasheninnikov to daintily dink home Russia’s eighth and complete the rout.

Meanwhile, Switzerland got their Group B campaign off to a successful start with a 4-3 triumph over Mexico in the first game of the tournament.

The Swiss went ahead through a ninth-minute penalty in the first period as Benjamin Mosco fouled Stephan Meier, who duly dusted himself down to send goalkeeper Hector Robles the wrong way and slot home the spot-kick.

They then doubled their advantage in early stages of the second period, with Dejan Stankovic expertly dispatching Sandro Spaccarotella’s short corner with an acrobatic overhead kick inside the far post.

Hugo Lopez’s low free-kick reduced the arrears, but Switzerland ensured they maintained a two-goal buffer going into the final period; Samuel Lutz turning in Meier’s deep flag kick for a 3-1 scoreline.

A Meier bicycle kick looked to have sealed an emphatic result for the European team with mere minutes to spare, but a late Omar Cervantes double preserved some respectability.

Today’s matches: Oman v Switzerland — 4:30pm; Russia v Tahiti 5:45pm; Brazil v Mexico 7pm; Nigeria v UAE 8:15pm. Entry free

alex@khaleejtimes.com