Japan National Beach Soccer Team – Prep Camp for AFC Beach Soccer Championship 2015 Doha, Qatar
Thursday 19 March 2015  Kick-off at 5:45 p.m.  15mins ×3 
Nad Al-Sheba Sports Complex (Dubai, UAE)

Japan National Beach Soccer Team   3-1（1P 1-0, 2P 1-0, 3P 1-1）  Azerbaijan National Beach Soccer Team

Score
5min　  OBA Takaaki（Japan）
22min　GOTO Takasuke（Japan）
36min　Goal Against（Azerbaijan）
40min   YAMAUCHI Shusei（Japan）

Starters
GK：SUGITA Tetsuji
FP：ODA Hirofumi、MOREIRA Ozu、GOTO Takasuke、OBA Takaaki

Substitutes
GK：TERUKINA Shingo
FP： TABATA Teruki、MAKINO Shinji、AKAGUMA Takuya、MATSUO Naoya、HARAGUCHI Shotaro、YAMAUCHI Shusei

Match Report

Ahead of the AFC Beach Soccer Championship, also combined with the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Asian Qualifiers, Japan’s national beach soccer team had their final training match against the Azerbaijan national team, who are a medium-level country in Europe and stand at 21st place in last year’s world rankings. The official competition is regularly three 12-minute periods, but this match was played in 15-minute periods to give more playing time to the players for the tune-up purpose prior to the qualifiers.

The both teams started the match even, yet Japan opened the scoring when OBA Takaaki composedly scored a spot-kick earned after an opponent’s foul in the 5th minute of the first period. Japan kept their pace afterwards, and GOTO Takasuke netted home a goal in the second period. In the final period, Japan conceded a goal, but Yamauchi Shusei found the back of the net five minutes from time to put his side further ahead. Japan wrapped up their final training match with a 3-1 victory before the championship.

Comments

MAKINO Shinji（LEON FUKUOKA）
I’ve been spending productive time for the three days since we got to Dubai.
In today’s practice match, I played carefully about details as it was the last match ahead of the AFC championship. The Asian qualifiers where we contend for the World Cup ticket always have a special atmosphere. So someone like me who is the oldest in the team will lead the team as a veteran. Individually, this qualifying tournament is my fifth one. Just like the past when we won twice, we will try to win again.

YAMAUCHI Shusei（G.C.Nerine）
I’m glad we put up a good result with a 3-1 win in the final training match before the AFC championship. In this good team mood, winning this match to go for the qualifiers will definitely turn to be an advantage for the team. We will keep our form and further adjust our condition in the rest of the few days up to the opening match. As an individual, I’ve got to get physically better to get ready for the upcoming match.

HARAGUCHI Shotaro（TOKYO LEQUIOS BS）
The training match today was productive because we were able to effectively use set plays that we worked on in practice even though they weren’t directly turned into a goal. Personally, I had a lot to improve in defence, so I will look back my performance on the video to improve it before the qualifiers. Until now, I have experienced some international tournaments, but it’s my first time to play the Asian qualifiers for the World Cup berth. We will stick together as a team to win the title.

Schedule