Beach Soccer World Cup groups drawn
The Tahiti beach soccer team now know who they must dispatch of in the group stage of the 2019 Beach Soccer World Cup in Paraguay to get to yet another final.
The Tahiti beach soccer team now know who they must dispatch of in the group stage of the 2019 Beach Soccer World Cup in Paraguay to get to yet another final.
The Tiki Toa, as the Tahiti side are known, were seeded in Pot A as they are one of the best beach soccer teams on the planet.
They ended up in a group with Italy, Mexico and Uruguay.
The Italians will be the favourites to advance to the knockout stages with Tahiti.
The two teams made it to the semi-finals of the last World Cup, in 2017, with Italy falling to eventual winners Brazil, who would beat Tahiti in the final.
Mexico also participated in the 2017 edition, being knocked out of the group stage by Iran and Italy. They finished bottom of their group, behind Nigeria.
As for Uruguay they have been absent for a while but will make their 6th appearance at the tournament. Their previous best was as good as a second place, all the way back in 2006.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the tournament is that 2017 bronze medal winner Iran have failed to qualify. They got knocked out of the Asian championship in the quarter finals by Japan. That means that one of Tahiti’s biggest rivals for a medal will not be at the tournament this time around.
The 2019 Beach Soccer World Cup will be held in Paraguay between 21st November and 1st December 2019.
PS: The Solomon Islands beach soccer team will participate in the very first World Beach Games in Qatar from October 11-16. Tahiti would have been qualified but since French Polynesia is not an IOC member, the spot went to the best OFC team that was. The Solomon Islands will be in Group B with Mexico, Spain and Italy.
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