AFC Championship Semi-final vs Iran Beach Soccer National Team
10 March 2017 (Fri.) Kick-off 16:30 (Local Time) Playing Time 36min.（12min.×3）
Batu Buruk Beach (Terengganu, Malaysia）

Japan Beach Soccer National Team 6-8（1st 3-3, 2nd 1-2, 3rd 2-3）Iran Beach Soccer National Team

Scores
3'　GOTO Takasuke（Japan Beach Soccer National Team）
4'　goal against（ Iran Beach Soccer National Team）
9'　AKAGUMA Takuya（Japan Beach Soccer National Team）
11'　goal against（ Iran Beach Soccer National Team）
11'　OBA Takaaki（Japan Beach Soccer National Team）
12'　goal against（ Iran Beach Soccer National Team）
13'　MOREIRA Ozu（Japan Beach Soccer National Team）
14'　goal against（ Iran Beach Soccer National Team）
23'　goal against（ Iran Beach Soccer National Team）
28'　goal against（ Iran Beach Soccer National Team）
29'　AKAGUMA Takuya（Japan Beach Soccer National Team）
31'　goal against（ Iran Beach Soccer National Team）
33'　goal against（ Iran Beach Soccer National Team）
36'　GOTO Takasuke（Japan Beach Soccer National Team）

Starting Line-ups
GK：TERUKINA Shingo
FP：MOREIRA Ozu, IINO Tomoyuki, OBA Takaaki, GOTO Takasuke

Reserves
GK：KAWAI Yusuke
FP：ISO Hiroaki, HARAGUCHI Shotaro, KOMAKI Masayuki, NAKAHARA Yuki, AKAGUMA Takuya, SAKATA Jun

Match Report

In the AFC Beach Soccer Championship held in Terengganu, Malaysia, Japan National Beach Soccer Team faced one of the most competitive rivals in Asia, Iran National Team, at the tournament’s semi-final on Friday 10 March. Japan came out of the group league as the second best team and were looking to clinch the World Cup berth by winning this important contest.

After Iran took the ball with the kick-off at 4:30 p.m. local time, the first period saw plenty of goals scored from both sides. In the third minute, GOTO Takasuke struck the opening goal by redirecting a shot by Japan’s goalkeeper TERUKINA Shingo into the net with a header. However, moments later Japan committed a foul in front of their goal, and allowed Iran to equalise the match from a free-kick. While AKAGUMA Takuya, in the 9th minute, scored similarly as he changed the direction of Terukina’s shot with his head, Iran again got back on level terms by directly netting a free-kick in the 11th minute. Yet another similar sequence took place a minute later, as Japan’s OBA Takaaki altered the course of Terukina’s shot and scored the Japan’s third goal before Iran caught up with the Japanese side with a penalty kick in the 12th minute. The first period finished with the even scoring of 3-3.

Even after MOREIRA Ozu struck a free-kick into goal to go ahead once again in the opening minutes of the second period, Japan conceded another equaliser through a free-kick in the 14th minute. Then they gave away the first lead of the match to the opponents when Iran scored with a bicycle kick in the 23rd minute.

The scoring spree continued in the third period as well. After giving away a goal by an outstanding individual play, Japan cut their deficit immediately after to one goal with Akaguma’s overhead shot. Then Iran added two more goals in the 31st and 33rd minutes, extending the lead to 8-5, and shook off Japan’s comeback effort. Goto’s goal for the Japanese side in the 36th minute was not enough and the match finished with the final result of 8-6 in favour of Iran.

The loss ended up leaving only one more chance for Japan to qualify for the World Cup, which is the third place match against Lebanon starting from 2 p.m. on Saturday 11.

Players' Comments

FP #6 IINO Tomoyuki (Dorsole Kitakyushu)
We came out to this semi-final with everyone’s spirit unified together, but we fell short and lost 6-8. It’s just full of disappointment. But we still have a match to play with the World Cup spot at stake. So we will review what we did today, correct what went wrong, refresh our minds and go all out to grab the final spot for the World Cup.

FP #11 GOTO Takasuke (Tokyo Verdy BS)
This tournament is revealing the negative aspects that this Japanese national team haven’t been able to correct them completely. In any matches, it’s important for the team to address those issues and correct them accordingly. In that sense, the losses of yesterday and today are telling us that we still have room for improvement. Tomorrow, we face an “all-or-none’ match. You hardly experience this type of excitement. I have never been this excited before.

Schedule

*Local Time
*The schedule is subject to change due to the team condition, the weather, etc.