Durban 2009: More goals, more drama -

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Durban 2009: More goals, more drama

07-03-2009

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The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2009 Qualifier Durban is becoming a drama-laden goal-fest with another 38 goals and another dramatic sudden-death penalty shootout the highlights of the second day on Thursday.

The day started with Mauritius getting their second hiding when their tournament ended at the hands of a 10-3 defeat to Egypt; but they were joined on the sidelines in contrasting fashion by Libya, who lost their second penalty shootout in two days after a 6-6 draw with Mozambique. Then Cote-d'Ivoire opened their account with a narrow 7-6 victory over Morocco.

After the one-sided opener, Thursday's action heated up and Mozambique sneaked an unlikely victory over the cantankerous Libyans, with captain and goalkeeper Pedro Barca the hero for the victors.

After losing to Senegal in heartbreaking circumstances on the opening day, Libya had to live through it all again with Barca saving a sudden-death penalty to give Mozambique a victory few predicted before the tournament.

The final result was 6-6 after extra time with hat-trick hero Bethino Matlombe scoring his third with just 41 seconds left, to pull the scores level for the first time since Libyan Houssein Ben Saoud scored the first of his four goals in the seventh minute.

In the day's final clash, Cote d'Ivoire won a tense and bad tempered match against Morocco 7-6.

The hero for the Ivorians was Ludovic Ehounou, whose opportunism allowed him to find the net five times -- three of which were goals after he had followed up Frederic Aka shots and collected the rebound either off the post or after the keeper could not control.

Cote d'Ivoire held a tenuous lead at the first break thanks to a last second strike from Ehounou, who latched onto a loose ball after Aka's shot had been blocked. The teams traded goals in the second period to leave the score at 3-2 going into the final period.

Ehounou gave his side a two-goal cushion early in the third when he was on hand to slot home after Aka's shot from an acute angle spun off the post. Then a flurry of five goals in just over a minute twice had Morocco back on even terms, but ended with Ehounou rifling in a shot from the kickoff to give his side the lead with seven minutes left.

100 seconds from the final whistle Morocco's Salhi Yassine pulled his side level for the third time in the period, but just sevens seconds later Aka fired onto the post once again and Ehounou was on hand to finish things off.

Results

Group C

Egypt 10 - 3 Mauritius

Group B

Mozambique 6 -6 Libya

Mozambique win 1-0 on penalties

Group A

Cote d'Ivoire 7-6 Morocco

RESULTS

Swaziland