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.