Russian futsal national students’ team, by defeating Kazakhstan (4-2) in the finals, becomes the fifth time winner of the 16^th World Championship which took place in Almaty!

The crowded tribunes of Almaty Arena, roaring in support of the national team of Kazakhstan, failed to bring down the ardor of the Russian team. From the very beginning of the meeting Sergey Skorovich’s teams looked aggressively in the attack, immediately exacerbated the situation in the penalty area of Kazakhstan. Niyazov already in the first minute struck the post, Punkratov made a dangerous kick. Soon came goals. Orlov opened the score on the 5^th minute, and Anton Sokolov, from the central zone, densely and accurately struck the goal with a highball.

In less than a minute, the hosts of the tournament narrowed the gap. Balashov reacted to the kick, but it was too strong and the ball rolled into the net. The hot start was supported by the 7^th minute Yanar Asadov’s kick just under the crossbar, then a minute later the ball bounced off favorably to Orlov, who sent it directly into the center of the penalty area, 4-1.

After the break, the Kazakhstan team actively uses the goalkeeper, which allows to push the game away from the penalty area of the hosts. Periodically, moments arise at both sides. Our goalkeeper Nikolay Balashov again breaks the applause of Russian fans in a couple of episodes. At the 38^th minute the Kazakh goalkeeper Alin himself scores a goal. Only a few minutes are left to play, the Russians calmly take the game under control and bring it to our victory!

Our player Aleksandr Pirogov shared his emotions:

“For me, this is the first world championship among students and thank God we won. The tournament was organized at the highest level. I want to congratulate the whole team, the coaching and administrative staff as well as all futsal fans, who watched and supported us during the whole championship. Emotions are beyond words, you could see everything in the changing room at the end. Thank you all!”