Italy ease past Colombia to take bronze

Italy beat Colombia 3-0 in the FIFA Futsal World Cup third-place play-off to secure the bronze medal.

The European side, beaten 4-1 by Spain in the semi-finals, dominated most of the possession but were unable to find a breakthrough in the first half as Merlim, Saad and Marco Ercolessi all had efforts saved by Colombia goalkeeper Juan Lozano.

Italy increased the tempo after the break, but Lozano was on hand to deny Saad, Gabriel Lima and Sergio Romano before the latter opened the scoring with a brilliant first-time volley from Saad's corner on 28 minutes. Things went from bad to worse for Colombia when Lozano was dismissed for handling outside his area, and the Azzurri soon made their numerical advantage count. Just a minute later, Fortino collected Lima's pass and kept his cool to finish before rounding off the scoring in the last few seconds.

"Naturally, we are very satisfied to have finished third at this tournament," said Italy coach Roberto Menichelli. "For us, it was important – and a source of great pride – that we have finished as the second-ranked European team after Spain. There are some great teams that haven't managed to finish as highly as we have."