Win over Japan keeps women's beach soccer side alive in Acapulco Cup

Win over Japan keeps women's beach soccer side alive in Acapulco Cup

The Brazilian Women’s Beach Soccer National Team took the field against Japan under pressure to win. Only a victory in regulation time would keep coach Rose Andrade’s team alive in the Acapulco Cup. Fortunately, Brazil has the experienced goalkeeper Lelê Lopes, who once again proved why she is considered one of the best in the world. In an inspired performance, she made great saves and was directly involved in two goals in the 3-1 win over the Japanese team, with goals from Giulia, Adriele, and Mayara.

Showing that the loss to the USA in the opening round was still hard to swallow, the Brazilian team came onto the field with great determination from the opening whistle. The first period featured a lot of battling for possession and few scoring chances. It was no surprise that it ended scoreless. In the second period, everything happened. Giulia opened the scoring after a perfect headed pass from Isabelle. Then goalkeeper Lelê Lopes struck two excellent long-range shots that led to two rebounds from the Japanese goalkeeper. Adriele capitalized on the first, and Mayara on the second, scoring Brazil’s third goal, the 50th in the history of the Women’s National Team. Hirai pulled one back for the opponents.

“In the locker room before the game, you could already feel that we were going to give our all on the field today to come away with the win. We weren’t going to make the same mistake we made against the USA. It was really good to see how everyone gave their all in today’s match. Now we have to do it again in the final round and hope the USA vs. Japan game ends in a way that helps us keep dreaming of the title,” said the number 1, Lelê.

Since the USA beat Mexico 7-0 in the other match of the day, they reached 6 points, while Brazil and Mexico have 3. Therefore, in the 3rd and final round of the competition this Saturday (11), if they want to win the title, the Brazilian National Team must beat Mexico and hope for a Japan victory over the USA in overtime or on penalties.

The Women’s Acapulco Beach Soccer Cup is played in a round-robin format. The four national teams play each other, and the champion will be the country with the most points after the three rounds. See the full competition schedule:

Women’s Acapulco Beach Soccer Cup (4/9 to 4/11) - Arena GNP, in Acapulco–MEX

1st round - Thursday, 4/9

• 5:00 p.m. (MEX) / 8:00 p.m. (BRA) - Brazil 4 x 5 USA - Brazil goals: Ester (2), Isabelle and Mayara

• 8:00 p.m. (MEX) / 11:00 p.m. (BRA) - Japan 4 x 0 Mexico

2nd round - Friday, 4/10

• 5:00 p.m. (MEX) / 8:00 p.m. (BRA) - Brazil 3 x 1 Japan - Brazil goals: Adriele, Giulia and Mayara

• 8:00 p.m. (MEX) / 11:00 p.m. (BRA) - Mexico 0 x 7 USA

3rd round - Saturday, 4/11

• 5:00 p.m. (MEX) / 8:00 p.m. (BRA) - USA x Japan

• 8:00 p.m. (MEX) / 11:00 p.m. (BRA) - Mexico x Brazil

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.