This Friday (16th), in Matosinhos (Portugal), the men’s goalball team conquered the unprecedented third world championship of the modality, practiced by visually impaired athletes. The 6-5 victory over China, at the turn, isolated Brazil as the biggest winner of the competition, leaving Lithuania and Germany (both with two titles) behind.
Brazilian men’s team defeats China and becomes the greatest goalball world champion in history: https://t.co/11LBXnvfL7#LoteriasCaixa pic.twitter.com/cd7R8IYbhN
— Brazilian Paralympic Committee (@cpboficial) December 16, 2022
The feat extended the Brazilian hegemony in goalball, since the country is also the current Paralympic champion of the modality. The gold medal at the Tokyo Games (Japan), last year, came with a triumph precisely over the Chinese, by 7 to 2.
Present at the 2014 and 2018 conquests, in Espoo (Finland) and Malmö (Sweden), respectively, Leomon Moreno and Romário Marques reached their third world title for Brazil. The green and yellow squad in Matosinhos still had two remnants from the bi campaign: Josemarcio Sousa (Parazinho) and André Dantas.
Paulo Saturnino (Paulinho) and Emerson Ernesto had the taste of being world champions for the first time. It was up to the second of them – who was part of the Paralympic champion team in 2021, alongside Leomon, Romário and Parazinho – to score this Friday’s title goal, in the final moments of the match.
Parazinho celebrates its third World Cup with coach Jônatas Castro, in charge of the men’s team this March of this year, after the departure of Alessandro Tosim – Renan Cacioli/CBDV/Rights Reserved
Another to celebrate the title in an unprecedented way was coach Jônatas Castro, who took over the men’s team in March, after the departure of Alessandro Tosim. He was part of the women’s national team commission at the 2014 and 2018 World Cups, as an assistant to then coach Dailton Nascimento. In the edition four years ago, the women’s team took bronze.
The Brazilian campaign in Portugal was perfect, with ten wins in ten games, 112 goals scored and 50 conceded. Brazil scored at least ten times in six matches, with emphasis on the triumph over the hosts, by 17-10, in the last round of the first phase. As a bonus, the team secured a spot at the Paralympics in Paris (France) in 2024, where they will fight for the two-time Paralympic.
Brazil is the WORLD CHAMPION of goalball! ??
The men’s national team defeated China today by 6×5, in Portugal, and has already secured a spot for the Paralympic Games in Paris 2024!
Congrats boys! You are giants! ??
Bring the cup home and let’s celebrate! ??@cbdvoficial pic.twitter.com/MnSrVYWsb1
— Brazilian Paralympic Committee (@cpboficial) December 16, 2022
This Friday’s final was much tighter than the last Paralympics. The Brazilians left behind, sought the tie twice, saw the Chinese open two goals, but reduced the loss to 4 to 3 before the break. In the final stage, the green and yellow team quickly equalized the score, conceded the fifth goal, but left everything the same again. With a minute and a half to go (in goalball, each half has 12 minutes), Brazil had a penalty in favor, converted by Emerson, ensuring the victory by 6 to 5. Leomon (four goals) and Parazinho (one) also scored the nets for the now three-time world champions – Yu Deyi and Yang Mingyuan scored China’s goals.
Among the men, the bronze medal at the World Cup went to Ukraine, which defeated Lithuania by 6 to 2. In the women’s category, third place was secured by Israel, by beating Canada by 4 to 2. The decision of the women’s tournament , between South Korea and Turkey, which starts at 2 pm (Brasília time) this Friday. The Brazilians were eliminated in the first phase.
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— CBDV (@cbdvoficial) December 16, 2022
