Battle for a spot in gold medal final begins

On the fourth day of football 5-a-side competition, the eight best battle to be in the gold medal match. 06 Sep 2012

Argentinian five-a-side footballer David Peralta shoots at London 2012.

ⒸGetty

By IPC

Brazil and Argentina have a long history dating back to 1998 with Brazil coming out on top for the majority of their meetings.

There will be some intense rivalries on display when the football 5-a-side action heats up for the semi-finals inside the Riverbank Arena.

France take on their European rivals Spain whilst the two most experienced sides Brazil and Argentina go head to head.

The two South American heavyweights have a long history dating back to 1998 with Brazil coming out on top for the majority of their meetings.

Argentina’s most bitter memory will be losing the first ever Paralympic title to their neighbours on a penalty shoot out back in 2004.

Silvio Velo was a member of the silver medal winners in that final. He has both Argentina’s goals in this Paralympics and will hope to upset the Brazilians with his fine finishing this time around.

They made the final four as runners up in group B with a 2-0 win over Iran and sharing points with Spain and Great Britain respectively in 0-0 draws.

Defending champions Brazil had a slower start against France in a goal-less affair but soon found momentum in the next two games to win group B. They knocked four past Turkey before Jeferson sent China home with his strike in a 1-0 victory.

Jeferson will be the player to watch on the Brazilian end as one of the tournaments top scorers with three goals.

David Peralta hasn’t got off the mark for Argentina but he certainly threatened the Spanish with plenty of shots in their last game.

Spain climbed above Argentina and qualified for the next stage of competition as group winners.

Antonio Martin has all three of Spain’s goals and has an impressive record as a former golden boot winner. The pick of Martin’s collection has to be the fantastic nine metre strike which he fired in the top corner to defeat Iran 2-0. They will play against France who they lost 1-0 to in the European final last year.

The French have one of the most impressive partnerships in football 5-a-side with Frederic Villeroux and captain Martin Baron coming close to shocking Brazil in the opening game.

Brazil and Spain clearly have some old scores to settle as the teams get ready to battle for a place in the gold medal final.