On Friday 8 March, the Japan Beach Soccer National Team faced the Kuwait Beach Soccer National Team in their first group stage match of the AFC Beach Soccer Championship Thailand 2019. Despite their struggles under the pressure of the first match of the tournament, Japan managed to score in all three periods to record an 8-1 victory to start off their campaign to become the Asian Champions.

With an 8:30 p.m. kick-off time, the match was held in rather cool climate compared to the day time. The Japanese side elected to rotate their players throughout the match to allow all players to participate in the first match, including the goalkeepers.

In the first period, the team captain MOREIRA Ozu captured the opener in the eighth minute, followed by OBA Takaaki’s freekick goal in the 11th minute. Moreira penetrated the open space before striking a shot to make it 3-0 at the end of the first period.

YAMAUCHI Shusei started off the second period with a goal, but the shot taken by Kuwait’s ALHAMAD took a bounce in front of the Japanese goalkeeper before finding the back of the net. Despite conceding a goal to Kuwait, Japan got back to their scoring ways as TABATA Teruki and Moreira combined with each other before allowing Yamauchi to fire a shot into the upper corner of the goal. Yamauchi went onto scoring his third goal of the match in the 23rd minute to extend their lead ahead of the final period.

The third period saw Oba scoring his second goal of the match from a freekick, followed with a goal scored by KOMAKI Masayuki with a bicycle kick. Despite seeing Coach RAMOS Ruy demanding for better precision when the players made passing errors, the Japanese side managed to out run their opponents to earn an 8-1 victory.

The Japan Beach Soccer National Team managed to earn three points in their first match of the tournament, a match where Coach Ramos has stressed the importance to win the match. Despite seeing some flaws that needs to be addressed, the team has certainly gained momentum for their next match. Yamauchi, who scored a team leading three goals, mentioned after the match, “This will be our worst performance, as the team will build on what we have right now and strive to get better. I personally would like to think that my best performance is yet to come. I would like to score and assist more goals to help the team win the title.”

Japan will now face the Qatar Beach Soccer National Team in their second group stage match on Sunday 10 at 8:30 p.m. local time (10:30 p.m. Japan time).

Coach and Players' Comments

RAMOS Ruy, Coach (Japan Beach Soccer National Team)
It was great that we won the match, but I am not satisfied with our overall performance. We need to play simpler, reduce our mistakes, and take more shots at the goal. In order to showcase our character, we must take the initiative of the match. With this being our first match of the tournament there was a negative atmosphere where we were getting suppressed by the nervousness and pressure. I would like to tell my players that we must be able to play our game in order to reach higher levels.

GK #1 TERUKINA Shingo (Ryukyu Erythrina)
There were some aspects we managed to do well and some we weren’t able to do, so we must be able to perform with better consistency. It’s great to see us score today, but it won’t be as easy when we face stronger teams, so we need to make our opponents chase the ball and capitalise on the opportunities when our opponents are off-guards.

FP #9 YAMAUCHI Shusei (Tokyo Verdy BS)
Although I wasn’t in good condition ahead of the tournament, I knew that once the tournament starts, I can turn my switch on, so in a way it went as planned. Since being appointed as the new coach, Coach Ramos has asked for my help and convinced me to make the decision to return to the national team. We’ve only played one match, and I’ve only scored three goals against a weaker opponent, but I went over to hug Coach Ramos to show my appreciation.

FP #10 MOREIRA Ozu (Tokyo Verdy BS)
With this being our first match of the tournament, we weren’t able to play our game, but it’s great that still managed to score goals and win the match. We will listen to what our coach has to say and prepare ahead of our next match against Qatar. We must stay focused and do our best to showcase a better performance.

Schedule

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