SA pair Michael Matricciani and Michele Lastella were unable to help the Qantas Beach Socceroos qualify for the 2013 FIFA Beach World Cup in Tahiti after a controversial 3-2 loss to UAE in the final match of the Asian Qualifiers in Qatar.

UAE led 3-2 with less than a second remaining and the Beach Socceroos managed to find the back of the net in the final passage, however the match officials ruled out the goal deeming time to had elapsed.

This led to dramatic protests from the Australians after the game, but it was all in vain as UAE progressed to the World Cup along with Japan and Iran.

The Beach Socceroos came into the match after a narrow 2-1 defeat to Japan in the semi-final and were without Socceroos Ante Juric David Zdrillic, who missed the match through suspension.

The Australians fell behind 2-0 inside the opening minute after goals to Ali Karim and keeper Humaid Jamal.

The Beach Socceroos leveled the scores after a double to Beach Socceroos skipper Matricciani – the first in the opening period and his second coming with early in the final third.

UAE, a veteran of four FIFA Beach World Cups found the net with five minutes remaining through Karim and it proved to be the winner.

The Beach Socceroos equalised with less than a second remaining, the ball finding the back of the net after a long throw in, but the match officials cancelled out the goal.

 

 

Qantas Beach Socceroos Captain Michael Matricciani and Michele Lastella pen a few words from Qatar where they are representing Australia in the 2013 FIFA Beach World Cup Qualifiers. Here’s what the had to say about the semi-final loss to Japan.

 

Day 6 – Semi-Final Day

Today kicked off as usual with some breakfast which was followed by a recovery session in the pool with some light stretching. 

After which, we had tactical meeting and discussed how we were going to approach tonight’s semi-final against Asian giants Japan. 

This team is of the highest quality being full time paid professionals with both team structure and individual brilliance, and reached the quarter finals at the last World Cup. 

So, our jobs were to be extremely well organised defensively and make the most of their mistakes. 

As it turned out, we were defeated by a Japan in shock of how tough we were defeat. 

We stood proud and almost pinched an equaliser in the final seconds of the game. 

Japan qualify for the World Cup and progress to the final. We play off for the final World Cup spot.