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Words & PhotographyClint Derric Egbert…And Then There Were ThreeAs the final whistle sounded, shouts of “shouri-o osameru” resounded through the Musannah Sports City Stadium. Curious about whatit meant, I referred to a translator only to find that the words meant “victory is ours”.Eleven teams stepped up to battle for a place in the FIFA BeachSoccer World Cup 2011 taking place in Revenna, Italy, but onlythree were to make it through the qualifiers that took place in theSultanate recently. After six days of vigorous competition, Japanclinched the continental crown, beating hosts Oman in a closeencounter that brought the thrills, spills and skills one would expectto witness in a beach soccer final.The hosts pumped up the adrenalin with an early goal from Is’haqto take the lead in a fight for the Asian throne, then continuedto barricade their territory with a strong defence and superbgoalkeeping from Salim. But, a more than determined Japanesesquad surged forward, time and time again looking to equal thescores. Finally, in the last period of play, Take levelled the scores forJapan, who were growing in confidence quickly. Taking advantageof the anxious Omani defence, Arakaki blasted one through withless than one minute on the clock, clinching the victory and the titlefor the Japanese.A dUAl FoR ThIRd plAceOne would have expected the UAE to be locking horns with Oman in the finals– but that didn’t happen. When facing Iran for the third spot in the qualifiers,UAE were definitely the favourites.Going into the match more of a defensive side, not many would have expectedthe Iranians to have blasted six goals into their opponents’ net. But then again,you really can’t predict anything in beach soccer.Mesigar was the first to strike for Iran in the opening minute of the match,giving his side an early advantage. Later, Dara followed suit scoring a secondfor his side putting the UAE boys under pressure. M. Abbas did well to comeback for the Emirates in the second period, but it wasn’t long before Daraonce again scored for his country. Hassani soon came back with a secondgoal for the UAE, but that wasn’t enough to stop the Iranians, who later scoreda fourth, fifth and sixth goal to take the final score to 6-2. Earning themselvesthird place in the competition, they are too eligible to compete in the upcomingBeach Soccer World Cup 2011.Despite the loss, Omani spirits were still high; although the outcomeof the match brought defeat, it still placed Oman in second spot,giving them a chance to right their wrongs in the FIFA Beach SoccerWorld Cup 2011.Gracing the competition and the prize giving ceremony was Chairman of theOman Football Association Sayyid Khalid Bin Hamad Al Busaidi, His ExcellencyEng. Khalfan Al Naabi, Adviser to Ministry of Sports and His Excellency RashadAhmed Al Hinai, Undersecretary of Ministry of Sports.34