AKIPRESS.COM - Kazakhstan became the first UEFA Futsal EURO finals debutants to claim a medal since the inaugural edition in 1996 after scoring either side of half-time to defeat hosts Serbia in front of yet another 11,161 capacity Arena Belgrade crowd, UEFA said in a release on February 14.

Both teams clearly wanted bronze after losing in their first semi-finals and in the opening half Kazakhstan twice hit the upright.

However, they needed a string of Higuita saves to still be level when Douglas struck just before the break from Leo's pass, squeezing the ball inside Miodrag Aksentijević's post.

Serik Zhamankulov made it 2-0 with his sixth goal of the finals in the first minute of the second half, and Douglas added another.

Mladen Kocić, attempting to snatch the Golden Shoe despite a semi-final injury, was deployed as Serbia's flying keeper and Higuita promptly punted into an empty net.

Some nice footwork by Douglas completed his hat-trick, though Stefan Rakić and Slobodan Rajčević pulled two back late on.

The match ended with the score of 5:2 in favor of Kazakhstan.