Uruguay and Serbia qualified for the quarter finals today with wins over France and Turkey respectively.  Uruguay came from behind once again to defeat France 3-2, while Serbia despatched Turkey 8-2.  The remaining group games will only go to determine who they face in the next round and a first place finish will somewhat ease the path to the semi final.

Turkey and France, who are both very new to futsal, came very close to making the knockout stage and will be proud with their performances and even more happy with the development of the game in their respective home nations.  Turkey didn't have a futsal set up two years ago when they sent a representative to the World University Championship in Poznan and have made great strides in the interim.  France, meanwhile, have been involved with futsal somewhat longer, though they don't have a national squad yet.  Futsal is seeing a rapid growth in popularity there, with Zinedine Zidane taking up the sport for a showcase tournament to raise the profile. 

Both sides looked good going forward and had good defences that tested the strong Serbian side, who will be a match for any team in this tournament.  Turkey were 30 seconds away from a victory over Uruguay, while France rattled the bar when they were 3-2 down with seconds remaining.  It shows that despite now going into the bottom half of the championship they could easily have been in the quarter finals.