Thailand 5s International 4 Nation Futsal Championship 2016 2nd Match vs Kazakhstan Futsal National Team
2016-8-21 (Sun.) - 15:30 Playing Time: 40min. (20min.×2)
Bangkok Arena (Bangkok/Thailand)

Japan Futsal National Team 0-9（0-4, 0-5) Kazakhstan Futsal National Team

Scores
1'　Goal against（Kazakhstan Futsal National Team）
8'　Goal against（Kazakhstan Futsal National Team）
18'　Goal against（Kazakhstan Futsal National Team）
18'　Goal against（Kazakhstan Futsal National Team）
22'　Goal against（Kazakhstan Futsal National Team）
23'　Goal against（Kazakhstan Futsal National Team）
26'　Goal against（Kazakhstan Futsal National Team）
26'　Goal against（Kazakhstan Futsal National Team）
35'　Goal against（Kazakhstan Futsal National Team）

Starting Five
GK：SAKA Keisuke
FP：MINAMOTO Akira、UEMATSU Koto、UDAGAWA Yuto、WAKIYAMA Ren

Substututes
GK：IWANAGA Taiki
FP：NIBUYA Kazuhiro, YONEDA Yoshitaka, SHIMIZU Kazuya (Cap.), ITO Keita, OBATA Kiichi, YAMAGIRI Shogo, MATSUBARA Tomohiro, YAMADA Jiei

Match Report

The Japan Futsal National team played the second match of the Thailand 5s International 4 Nation Futsal Championship 2016 against Kazakhstan on Sunday 21 August at Bangkok Arena in Thailand. 

The Kazakhstan Futsal National Team played competively with various attacking patterns, using their physical advantage. A goleiro often contributed to attacks as though he had been one of the field players, which confused Japan. As Japanese squad had selected mainly young players for this tournament, they were determined to keep playing at full stretch against Kazakhstan, who had more experiences.

However, in the first minute of the first half, Japan could not defend against the opponents’ pressure and conceded a goal. Although Japan stayed determined to score goals, despite getting close to one, instead they allowed four goals in total in the first half.

Coach SUZUKI Ryuji encouraged the players during halftime to send them back onto the pitch, ‘not 100%, let’s give our 120%.’ He further added, “there’s no need to be scared of the scoreline. Let’s go after the opponents."

In the second half, however, Kazakhstan kept dominating the match and struck another goal in the 22nd minute. Japan could not find their moments and conceded another in the 35th minute. Although MINAMOTO Akira, NIBUYA Kazuhiro, and SHIMIZU Kazuya tried to change the flow of the game by scoring, they could not capitalise on their chances until the final whistle.

Japan, who were comprehensively beaten, will prepare to meet Iran for their last game of the championship on 23 August.

【Thailand 5s International 4 Nation Futsal Championship 2016】
Sat. 20 - 18:15 △2-2 vs Thailand
Sun. 21 - 15:30 ●0-9 vs Kazakhstan
Tue. 23 - 17:00 vs Iran
Venue : Bangkok Arena
*Local Time

Coach and Players' Comments

SUZUKI Ryuji, Coach
I think there was huge gap in the level of tactics both offensively and defensively between Kazakhstan and us. We also couldn’t cope against the opponents at the individual level. It’s vital in this kind of competitive matches that the team understand when to go for goal and when to stay on guard, realising the stretches where the opponents are looking to finish off (win) the game. We’d like to prepare well for the next match, improving on those aspects. 

FP #5  MINAMOTO Akira (FUCHU ATHLETIC F.C.）
Despite the final score, I don’t want to feel demoralised. Most of the goals were conceded from set pieces or losing the ball near the goal line. The teams above certain level hardly miss these kinds of scoring opportunities. So we lost the game. I believe all the national teams in the past generations went through similar experiences.

We got roughed up badly, but we’d like to take it as a lesson learnt and perform better in the next game against Iran. I strongly believe that it means a lot for the young players that they never gave up despite the scoreline, playing at full stretch both mentally and physically until the final whistle. Their persistence will attain positive results in the future. As the next game against Iran will be our last opportunity to display who we are, we’ll play our best.

FP #14  YAMADA Jiei (Deucao Kobe Asupiranchi)
It was really frustrating that we let the opponents win a sweeping victory today. Personally, I stayed determined to score goals, but could not capitalise on our scoring opportunities. I’d like to refresh myself and prepare well for the coming game against Iran.

FP #7  UDAGAWA Yuto (C.S. Gisinti Pistoia/Italy)
We let the opponents control the match from our mistakes today. I know I have to face this result as a player of the national team. Having said that, we cannot stop here. So I’d like practice hard tomorrow, so that we can get a positive result in the game against Iran.

Schedule

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