Historic win for Aussie beach boys

The victory puts Australia in second place in the Group B standings, ahead of Oman on goal difference.

Australia took the lead, scoring in the first minute when Michael Matricciani found the back of the net and he doubled the margin in the fifth minute of the first period.

At the end of the second, Australia had extended the lead to 3-0, when Demetrios Bakis scored his first goal of the tournament.

Australia made it 4-0 when Matricciani scored his hat-trick.

China's replied with a consolation goal in the final two minutes of the match.

Australia face Oman in their final group game, where a draw will be enough for the green and gold to progress to the semi-finals and keep their FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2009 hopes alive.

“We are expecting a tough game as every game is, but you know, winning today gave us a bit of confidence," Australia coach Airton Andrioli said.

“We have been playing well but we’ve just been a little bit unfortunate in the last results, including our friendly matches.

“We hope we can continue on winning and qualify for the World Cup."

In the other match in Group B, Oman lost in an exciting match against Iran 5-3.

NOTE: The top two teams from each group at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2009 Asian Qualifiers progress to the semi-finals phase, with the winners of the semi-finals advancing to the final and qualifying for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2009.

The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2009 will be played in Dubai from 16 to 22 November 2009 and with 14 of the 16 nations - United Arab Emirates, Portugal, Uruguay, Solomon Islands, Spain, Côte d'Ivoire, El Salvador, Russia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Italy, Brazil, Nigeria and Switzerland - already qualified.