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Blind Football: France and Turkey run for the Euro title

Date: June 15, 2022

Category: Blind football

France and Turkey will compete in the 2022 IBSA Blind Football Men’s European Championship final!Both finalists were found only by penalty kicks after the ties during the 30 minutes of regular time.

#Accessibility – Jonathan Tonsing runs to Babacar Niang to get the ball from the French captain

The French national team was the first to guarantee the spot after the victory against Germany, with Babacar Niang, the French captain, being the only one to shoot successfully on target after five penalties missed. Things didn’t start well for Les Bleus. Germany opened the score with an own goal by Tidiane Diakite, but Babacar Niang tied it before half time. In the second half, Taime Kuttig put his squad again at an advantage until Niang got the final result and took the decision of the first finalist to the penalty kicks. The rest of the story is already known.

Turkey’s win means the Paralympic Games

In the second semi-final, England faced Turkey in a match with too much at stake. The European champion had a guaranteed spot in Paris in 2024, and because the other finalist was France, the host of the next Paralympic Games, and already had his spot secured, the winner of the match received their visa to the biggest sporting event.

Maybe that’s why the game was too balanced during the regular time. The stubborn null again took the decision for the penalty kicks. The English captain, Brandon Coleman, was the first to shoot but missed, as did Dan English at his turn. On the contrary, Abdullah Somer and Recep Aydeniz scored and set off an explosion of happiness on the Turkish side.

#Accessibility – All the Turkish delegation celebrates the achievement on the pitch. Paris here they go!

On the other hand, Germany and England will now play for 3rd and 4th places in the competition.

Italy in a comfortable stand

The dispute for the 5th place now has two teams with a comfortable advantage. The victories of Italy (4-2) and Greece (2-0) against Romania and Poland, respectively, gave the table standings a new shape. The 5th place in this competition is important because it will give access to the World Championships in Birmingham in 2023.

#Accessibility – Nikolaos Gkagkoulis is escaping with the ball from Kacper Domagala

The star of the Italian team, Paul Iyobo, scored all the goals for the home squad. For Greece, Adriano Bezhani and Dimos Zacharos were the scorers.

#Accessibility – Krisztian Kovacs shoots on target despite the opposition of Captain Sebastiano Gravina

The standings of this play-out mini-tournament is the following after Day 6:

5th – Italy, 4 points (2G: 1W-1T-0L, 5-3)
6th – Greece, 4 points (2G: 1W-1T-0L, 3-1)
7th – Poland, 3 points (2G: 1W-0T-1L, 2-3)
8th – Romania, 0 points (2G: 0W-0T-2L, 3-6)

The schedule for Day 7 is the following (CET):

9th place play-out
Czech Republic vs Spain (11.30 am)

Play-out mini-tournament
Greece vs Romania (3 pm)
Italy vs Poland (5.30 pm)

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