AFC Futsal Asian Cup™ 2024 Qualifiers
Wed. 11 October 2023, 19:00 (Local time)
Match duration: 40 mins (20x2 Playing-time)
Taipe University Stadium (Chinese Taipei, Taiwan)

Japan Futsal National Team 3-0 (2-0, 1-0) Chinese Taipei Futsal National Team

Scores
7' HIRATA Neto Antonio Massanori
17' UCHIDA Shunta
33' UCHIDA Shunta

Starting Line-up
GK: FIUZA Fabio
FP: OLIVEIRA Arthur, YOSHIKAWA Tomoki, HARADA Kokoro, SHIMIZU Kazuya

Reserves
GK: PIRES Higor
FP: UCHIMURA Shunta, ISHIDA Kentaro, YAMANAKA Shoto, TSUTSUMI Yuta, HIRATA Neto Antonio Massanori, KANAZAWA Sora, SAITO Hyuga, UCHIDA Shunta

Match Report

The Japan Futsal National Team defeated the Chinese Taipei Futsal National Team 3-0 to advance to the final tournament of the AFC Futsal Asian Cup™ 2024, which will be held in April next year. With the Asian Cup serving as the final round of the Asian qualifiers for the FIFA Futsal World Cup Uzbekistan 2024™, Japan have made a strong start to their quest for the world stage.

After a 4-0 win over Australia, Japan took on Chinese Taipei with three days to prepare. Before the match, Head Coach KOGURE Kenichiro gathered the team for a pep-talk, saying, “Let's win today to get to the stage we want to be at. We must not forget the many supporters who have travelled from Japan and spent a lot of time and money to come here to support us. Let's play good futsal for them and deliver a victory. Let's show a strong performance to those supporting us via live streaming and raise the value of futsal together.”

Japan started the match with a near-goal from the very first play, when YOSHIKAWA Tomoki (Nagoya Oceans) latched onto a pass from OLIVEIRA Arthur (Shenzhen Nanling Tielang) and fired a shot that was saved by the goalkeeper. The opening goal came in the seventh minute when UCHIDA Shunta (Peniscola FS) carried the ball down the right flank before crossing for HIRATA Neto Antonio Massanori (Industrias Santa Coloma), who produced a spectacular individual effort to dribble past the goalkeeper and slot the ball into the net. Japan's second goal came from a corner kick in the 17th minute when Uchida converted ISHIDA Kentaro's (Bardral Urayasu) quick cross to double the lead before the end of the first period.

At halftime, coach Kogure urged his players by saying, “Winning this game is obviously important, but I want everyone to work on improving the quality of the team's tactics with an eye on the World Cup.” And sent off the players by telling them, “The only way we can compete with the best in the world is to dominate our opponents on the pitch, rather than letting them take advantage of our simple mistakes to dictate the pace of the game. Let's play to our strengths and score more goals to end the game.”

UCHIMURA Shunta (Shonan Bellmare), who came on at the start of the second period after sitting out the first, gave Japan a huge boost as they created a number of close chances against Chinese Taipei. With the momentum in their favour, Japan extended their lead when Uchida scored his second of the game in the 33rd minute. SAITO Hyuga (Shriker Osaka) and YAMANAKA Shoto (Pescadola Machida) provided fresh legs off the bench as Japan kept their opponents at bay. With time running out, Chinse Taipei deployed their powerplay in the closing minutes, but FIUZA Fabio (Shonan Bellmare) made his presence felt in front of the goal to maintain the clean sheet, as Japan walked away with a 3-0 victory.

The win booked Japan's place at the AFC Futsal Asian Cup™ 2024, which will be held in April next year.

Coach and Players' Comments

KOGURE Kenichiro, Head Coach (Japan Futsal National Team)
We are happy to have punched our ticket to the final tournament of the Asian Cup, which will serve as the qualifier for the World Cup. The players and staff did a really good job. I would also like to congratulate all the supporters who cheered for us here and in Japan. The F.League will resume, so I hope many people will watch it and work with us to make Japanese futsal even more exciting. Please continue to support us.

FP #4 ISHIDA Kentaro (Bardral Urayasu)
It has been a great pleasure to be part of this team again and I would like to thank everyone who made it possible. First and foremost, I am glad that we were able to advance to the matin tournament of the Asian Cup, which will act as the World Cup qualifier. We will continue to work hard to achieve the best possible result in the Asian Cup and to be successful in next year's World Cup. Thank you for all your support.

FP #9 HIRATA Neto Antonio Massanori (Industrias Santa Coloma/Spain)
First of all, I would like to thank all the fans who supported us here in Taipei. It has allowed us to progress to the next stage with two wins in a row, which is great. Although we have limited time before the AFC Asian Cup final, I think we all know what we have to do to defend our title, so when we return to our respective clubs we will all do our best to improve before we meet again.

FP #10 KANAZAWA Sora (Nagoya Oceans)
I am glad that we were able to top the group with back-to-back wins, despite playing in two very difficult games. We are very grateful for all the support we receive here in Taipei and from Japan. We have worked on a lot of things since our training camp at YUME Field. We have also found a lot of things we need to work on in the future. We will do our best to improve the team in the time left before next year's World Cup.

FP #14 UCHIDA Shunta (Peniscola FS/Spain)
We were able to win this match against Chinese Taipei to secure our place in the Asian Cup. Although it was a difficult match, we were able to keep a clean sheet as a team, while I was able to contribute to the win by scoring and assisting goals. We are very grateful to all the fans who have supported us, which really helped us earn this result. I will continue to give my best to improve myself ahead of the team’s next endeavour.

AFC Futsal Asian Cup™ 2024 Qualifiers

Tournament Date: Sat. 7 - Wed. 11 October 2023
Tournament Information