Russia didn’t come close to matching the 31-2 victory they recorded over Solomon Islands in the 2008 finals, but they did get their FIFA Futsal World Cup campaign off to an emphatic start with a 16-0 victory over the same opponents.
Sergey Skorovich’s team put together some engrossing moves in the first half, with the invention of Robinho and five goals from Eder Lima helping them establish an 8-0 lead to take in at the interval. Russia repeated the feat – scoring eight goals without reply – in the second half. Eder Lima finished up with seven goals on his FIFA Futsal World Cup debut, while Sergey Sergeev and Alexander Fukin both netting braces.
To the Solomons’ credit, they did not stop striving to get on the score-sheet until the final whistle, but they found Russia goalkeeper Gustavo in fine form.
The result took Russia top of Group F, above Guatemala, whom they face next, on goal difference.
