AFC Beach Soccer Championship Qatar 2015
Saturday 28 March, 2015 　Kick-off: 8:00 p.m. 　Match Times:12min x 3 periods
Katara Beach(Doha, Qatar)

Japan Beach Soccer National Team    １-１（1st 0-1, 2nd 1-0, 3rd 0-0,PK2-3）Oman Beach Soccer National Team

Scores
2min　　Goal Against（Oman）
23min 　MOREIRA Ozu（Japan）

Line-ups
GK：TERUKINA Shingo
FP：ODA Hirofumi、MOREIRA Ozu、GOTO Takasuke、OBA Takaaki

Substitutes
GK：SUGITA Tetsuji
FP：TABATA Teruki、MAKINO Shinji、AKAGUMA Takuya、YAMAUCHI Shusei

Non-registered members
FP: MATSUO Naoya, HARAGUCHI Shotaro

Match Reports

In the final of AFC Beach Soccer Championship Qatar 2015, two countries, who both clinched the World Cup spot after the respective semi-finals, went head to head for the Asian champions title in a very heated battle in the stadium full of audience, similarly to the previous day match.

In the first period, Japan lacked their composure and made many mistakes, which resulted in the opener for Oman two minutes after the kick-off. Although Japan created opportunities to score in several occasions, the accuracy was not there and the first period finished with Japan trailing by one.

In the second period, both teams showed their strong will to win in their plays and the match went into a see-saw battle. Japan kept attacking, but Oman’s solid defence denied every Japan’s effort. The scoring finally changed when Japan’s captain Moreira Ozu struck the free-kick directly from the centre of the pitch into the goal. With his second straight free-kick goal after the one in the semi-final, the match went back to tie.

The final period saw excellent saves by Japan’s goalkeeper Terukina Shingo which saved countless crucial moments for Japan. But Japan’s offence kept missing last finishing touch, and it went into the three-minute extra period and eventually on to the penalty shootouts by three players from each team.

First two players scored for both teams. Before Oman’s third kicker, Japan replaced goalkeeper Terukina Shingo with Sugita Tetsuji to stop the shoot with his long arms and legs. But the substitution did not see success and Oman composedly got the third kick. Conversely, Japan’s third kicker, Goto Takasuke failed to score. That was when Japan lost and finished the tournament at second place.

Moreira Ozu won the tournament’s MVP award while Goto Takasuke was awarded with the scoring title.

Comments

MOREIRA Ozu（TOKYO LEQUIOS BS）
In this tournament, every match was very tough. Overall I think it turned out to be a very good tournament for us. Everyone on the team never gave up playing until the end, and that’s why we came up all the way to the final match. Unfortunately we lost in the penalty shootout in the final, but I am still very happy that we got the spot in the World Cup, which had been our goal. It’s a shame that we can’t bring the championship trophy back to Japan, but we will keep our heads up and keep working hard for our next goal. We thank our supporters for the great support.

HARAGUCHI Shotaro（TOKYO LEQUIOS BS）
Throughout the tournament, I felt the responsibility and pressure of having the national flag on my chest. It was such a good experience that I can’t explain in words. I got injured on the third day of the tournament and I couldn’t get back to playing after that. I feel sorry for the team and at the same time it was very disappointing. But the team celebrated my birthday during the stretch and I had some good moments, too. I will try not to waste any time left in the three months until the World Cup in July and I will get ready for it.

Schedule