On Saturday 13 October, the second day of the JFA 13th Japan Beach Soccer Tournament took place as the remaining matches of the first group and the quarterfinal matches were played.

After securing their spots into the final round on day one, Ryukyu Erythrina (Host City/Okinawa) and Veertien Mie BS (Tokai/Mie) squared off each other to take the group lead. After their goalkeeper GINOZA Tomoya scored the opening goal, Veertien went onto score a goal in each period to take down the match 4-0.

In Group B, Dorsole Kitakyushu (Kyushu1/Fukuoka) cruised through the group stage with their three wins, and it was Tokyo Lequios BS (Kanto3/Tokyo) who grabbed the second seat with their win over Cabella Niigata Praia (Hokushinetsu/Niigata) in the third group stage match.

Tokyo Verdy BS (Kanto1/Tokyo) had already clinched out of Group C and the final seat was fought between LEON Fukuoka (Kyushu3/Fukuoka) and Phoenix Tamano (Chugoku2/Okayama) who had registered one win apiece. After taking a four-goal lead by the second quarter, LEON Fukuoka held off Phoenix Tamano to earn their first final round appearance since the 9th Japan Beach Soccer Tournament.

It was Aveldage Kumamoto BS (Kyushu2/Kumamoto) who followed Loewe Yokohama (Kanto2/Kanagawa) out of Group D. Despite losing their opening match on day one, last year’s runners-up defeated Leberte Hofu (Chugoku1/Yamaguchi) 9-0 to secure their spot into the final round.

Day two featured the quarterfinal matches in the afternoon as Japan’s top teams clashed to showcase great battles.

The match between Veertien and Tokyo Lequios started off with Veertien taking the initiative as SUZUKI Masato scored the opening goal. In the 17th minute, Tokyo Lequios’s GOTO Takasuke captured back-to-back goals to level the match, but TABATA Teruki’s left foot gave the Mie side the lead ahead of the third period. Suzuki managed to extend their lead to two goals at the 31st minute mark, but once again Goto converted two goals to equalise the match. In the three-minute extra time, Veertien’s KOMAKI Masayuki scored the go-ahead goal, but Tokyo Lequios tied the match for the third time with IINO Tomoyuki’s direct freekick. The match entered penalty kicks where Tokyo Lequios’s goalkeeper SAMESHIMA Daiki showcased multiple superb saves to give his side the ticket to the semi-finals.

In another match, Dorsole and Erythrina also showcased a close battle. It was Dorsole who took the lead when AKAGUMA Takuya scored the opener in the fourth minute. The Kyushu side went onto extend their lead to two goals by the end of the second period. With their goalkeeper TERUKINA Shingo making numbers of superb saves, Erythrina started to build their momentum and rallied back as TOMA Masahito scored an excellent lob shot in the 26th minute to cut their deficit in half, but the host representative came short from finding the net once more and left the tournament in the quarterfinals.

Another promising match for the spectators was held as Tokyo V and Aveldage, the two teams who featured last year’s final, squared off in the quarterfinals. The match saw Tokyo V’s YAMAUCHI Shusei getting ejected in the second minute, giving Aveldage a two-minute power-play. However, led by their goalkeeper KAWAI Yusuke, the Tokyo side showcased a persistent effort to keep their opponents away from their goal as the first period ended scoreless. This may have given the confidence they needed for Tokyo V, as they captured the opening goal in the 23rd minute when WATARI Victor Yuri struck a powerful shot. In the third period, Llorenc Gomez Leon fired a bicycle shot to extend Tokyo V’s lead to two goals. However, Aveldage would rally back just a minute after they conceded their second goal. MATSUO Naoya lobbed the ball over the opposing goalkeeper to get within a goal and it was UEDA Kenshin who converted the equaliser in the 31st minute following a goalmouth scramble created by NISHIGUCHI Keisuke’s freekick. Despite the efforts made by the two teams, the winner of the match could not be decided after over time, and the match entered penalty shootouts. At the end, Aveldage fell short from getting their revenge from last year, as the defending champions advanced through to the semi-finals with a score of 4-3 in the penalty shootouts.

Loewe Yokohama won their match against LEON Fukuoka with a score of 5-1, where five players including their goalkeeper SHIROTA Yu scored a goal apiece to cruise through to the semi-finals.

The final day of the tournament will be held on Sunday 14, as the semi-finals and the final will be played to crown the national champions of 2018.

Players' Comments

YOKOKAWA Shota (Novantuno BS)
We have entered the tournament through the Hokkaido qualifiers, where the qualifiers itself is the only beach soccer tournament we can enter. Beach soccer has a unique aspect that we enjoy dearly. Our team members usually play football or futsal, and we really felt the need to practice on the beach ahead of this tournament. We have beaches in Hokkaido, but the temperature gets too low in late August and the facilities are not sufficient to play soccer. We will find ways to prepare ourselves better from next year so that we can earn a win at this stage. We fought through the tournament with just five players this year, so we hope to add more players by next year as well.

YAMAGA Takumi (Cabella Niigata Praia)
We trained for the whole year to advance through the first round, but we fell short from earning a win against the powerhouses we faced in our group. We knew our opponents were better as a team and there was a huge gap in the technical aspect. However, we believed that compared to football and futsal, this sport has a greater chance of making a “Giant killing,” especially because the sport is played on the sand. We trained to materialise that thought, but the gap between each players’ skill sets turned out to be a bigger gap than we imagined. Our season will end here, but we will train even harder to get back to this stage and earn a spot into the final round next year.

TERUKINA Shingo (Ryukyu Erythrina)
We were pretty hyped up because we were playing at our home court. With no need to travel long distance, we were able to prepare ourselves well for this tournament. Although we managed to win out of the first round without much problem, we honestly thought Dorsole Kitakyushu had the upper-hand in terms of the overall team strength. So, we told each other to stay persistent and to hang in there, but at the end, we lost by a goal difference. It would have been so much nicer if we managed to pull off a win, but with players with just one or two year experience, we still lack the ability to win out of these tough matches. Our team has always been a low scoring team, so need to find out ways to score more goals.

MATSUO Naoya (Aveldage Kumamoto BS)
Last year we lost in the final with just one second left in extra times, and we have trained all year to fill in that one second gap. Although we managed to fill that gap, we still lost the match. We managed to execute our game plan and performed well to give our opponents a hard time, but at the end they had the upper-hand in terms of game management. We conceded the two goals while we waited for our opponents to get tired. We had to be more patient during those times, as just one play made a huge difference in the outcome. Despite of the result, we believe that we managed to perform well, so we will continue to build on what we have been working on. We hope to become a team that can defend with patience while pouncing on the opportunities once the opponents starts to get tired. We will show up with a better version of ourselves next year.

JFA 13th Japan Beach Soccer Tournament

Tournament Dates: Fri. 12 - Sun. 14 October 2018
Tournament Venue: Ginowan Tropical Beach, Okinawa
Tournament Information