MUSCAT: Oman beach soccer team ended their campaign at the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup Russia 2021 on bright note as they registered a 3-2 victory against Senegal on Tuesday in the concluding fixture of Group D.

Coach Hilal Talib’s men missed the opportunity to move into the second round for the first time ever as they suffered two consecutive losses against title holders Portugal 5-3 in the opening match on Friday and from Uruguay 4-2 on Sunday.

In the Senegal match, Oman players aimed to post their first win in this edition of World Cup.

Abdullah al Souti scored the opening goal for Oman before four minutes of completion of the first period. Senegal’s Boye received red card in the first period from referee Roman Borisov.

The Sultanate’s experienced beach soccer player, Yahya al Oraimi, added the second goal for Oman in the dying minute of the second period.

In the following period, Senegal focused on attack to reduce the deficit. Later, Balde netted the first goal for the opponents.

Oman’s Salim al Oraimi made it difficult for Senegal as he struck the third goal for the Sultanate making it 3-1. Senegal’s Diatta scored one goal to reduce deficit further at 3-2. But Oman players defended well to post a deserving victory in this edition of World Cup.

Despite the loss, Senegal advanced with six points as they had outclassed Uruguay 6-1 in the opening match and edged Portugal 5-3 in the second match.

Oman's long-serving national coach, Talib Hilal, expressed his disappointment after the Uruguay match.

“I expected better result against Uruguay and the loss hurt the team’s chances to move into quarterfinals. The preparation plan was perfect. During the three months, we had played top friendlies. We had started with a tough match against Portugal and the players put up brilliant performance despite the final result. In Uruguay match, the players missed many scoring attempts which could have put us in better position now. Our target was to earn one of the direct tickets to the next round but luck was not on our side,” he said.

In all the four editions of the Sultanate team's presence at the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup, Oman had played 12 fixtures. Three matches ended with victory results -- against Costa Rica, Negirera and Senegal. The Sultanate team had suffered nine losses -- against Argentina, El Salvador, Brazil, Switzerland, Italy, Uruguay and Portugal (three times).Oman Observer