On Sunday 10 March, the Japan Beach Soccer National Team played against the Qatar Beach Soccer National Team in their second group stage match of the AFC Beach Soccer Championship Thailand 2019. Despite conceding a goal in the first period, the team registered a 7-1 victory with all three of their pivots scoring goals and secured their spot into the knockout stage.

The first period saw Japan creating numbers of critical chances, but the team struggled to capture the net. Conversely, it was Qatar who scored first in the 11th minute. However, Japan’s team captain MOREIRA Ozu scored the equaliser soon after, followed by YAMAUCHI Shusei’s go-ahead goal. With Coach RAMOS Ruy enthusiastically giving directions to his team, AKAGUMA Takuya struck a header into the net with the assist of his former teammate OBA Takaaki in the 15th minute.

In the second period, it was Qatar who was created opportunities in the early minutes but lacked quality in their final touches to threaten the Japanese goal. Japan’s fourth goal came in the 18th minute when OKUYAMA Masanori struck a clever freekick, anticipating the goalkeeper to come out and captured the corner of the goal. Okuyama converted another freekick two minutes later, followed by Moreira and Yamauchi’s goal in the 22nd and 24th minute respectively to make it 7-1 at the end of the period.

In efforts to rally back, Qatar attacked aggressively in the third period, but the defence led by the Japanese goalkeeper TERUKINA Shingo, Japan showed their persistency to keep the score-line intact. In offence, Moreira fired a shot from long distance that struck the post to arouse the crowd, but the score remained 7-1 at the final whistle. Japan has utilised all of their players in each of the first two matches to secure their spot into the knockout stage, but Coach Ramos didn’t seem to be satisfied with his team’s performance, mentioning that they did not challenge themselves enough.

Japan will now face the Bahrain Beach Soccer National Team on Tuesday 12 at 5:30 p.m. local time (7:30 p.m. Japan time) in their final group stage match. With Bahrain also registering two wins in their first two matches, the two teams will be competing for the group lead at stake.

Coach and Players' Comments

RAMOS Ruy, Coach (Japan Beach Soccer National Team)
You can concede an unexpected goal at any moment. That is the scary part of Beach Soccer. It’s good that our team managed to regain our composure after we gave up the goal. We seemed to rush our plays too much and couldn’t quite execute our game plan. Even with this 7-1 victory, I am not satisfied with our performance because we weren’t able to reach the level we were striving for. I am not happy with how our team couldn’t take advantage of the opponents getting tired in the third period. If we are aiming to win the title, we cannot make mistakes like that.

FP #2 AKAGUMA Takuya (Dorsole Kitakyushu)
When I scored the goal, Oba delivered a great ball, so I just had to tap the ball in. I am glad that I was able to score today, it gave me a sense of relief. We feel that it is our obligation to make it to the World Cup and we are definitely feeling the pressure, but we would like to make our supporters happy by winning this title.

FP #4 MATSUDA Kosuke (Loewe Yokohama)
I feel like we have gradually been able to showcase what the team’s been striving for, but we are still not satisfied with our performance, so we need to relax a bit more. If we can do a better job of performing the way we want, both as a team and as an individual, we can play the matches without any stress. We will be making technical mistakes on the pitch, but we hope to be perfect in our decision makings.

FP #11 OKUYAMA Masanori (Loewe Yokohama)
We were able to earn fouls in critical moments and I am glad I was able to score from our freekicks. Scoring goals is the most important job for a pivot, so I am glad I was able to contribute to the team in that aspect. I don’t think we can score as many goals against our next opponent, so we must stay focused and enter the match as one. I hope to step up my individual performance as well.

Schedule

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