AFC Championship 3rd Place Match vs Lebanon Beach Soccer National Team
11 March 2017 (Sat.) Kick-off 14:00 (Local Time) Playing Time 36min.（12min.×3）
Batu Buruk Beach (Terengganu, Malaysia）

Japan Beach Soccer National Team 6-3（1st 2-0, 2nd 1-1, 3rd 3-2）Lebanon Beach Soccer National Team

Scores
2'　GOTO Takasuke（Japan Beach Soccer National Team）
12'　HARAGUCHI Shotaro（Japan Beach Soccer National Team）
16'　goal against（Lebanon Beach Soccer National Team）
16'　GOTO Takasuke（Japan Beach Soccer National Team）
25'　goal against（Lebanon Beach Soccer National Team）
27'　GOTO Takasuke（Japan Beach Soccer National Team）
28'　goal against（Lebanon Beach Soccer National Team）
31'　OBA Takaaki（Japan Beach Soccer National Team）
36'　GOTO Takasuke（Japan Beach Soccer National Team）

Starting Line-ups
GK：TERUKINA Shingo
FP：MOREIRA Ozu, KOMAKI Masayuki, OBA Takaaki, GOTO Takasuke

Reserves
GK：KAWAI Yusuke
FP：ISO Hiroaki, HARAGUCHI Shotaro, IINO Tomoyuki, NAKAHARA Yuki, AKAGUMA Takuya, SAKATA Jun

Match Report

The final matchday of the AFC Beach Soccer Championship was held in Malaysia on Saturday 11 March with only the final and third-place match left to be played. Japan National Beach Soccer Team, who had lost to Iran in the semi-final on the previous day, took on Lebanon to compete for third place with the spot in the upcoming FIFA World Cup at stake. 

The kick-off was at 2 p.m. local time with Lebanon’s ball. Japan got off to a good start by scoring very early in the match. After two minutes, KOMAKI Masayuki cushioned a long feed from OBA Takaaki with a header towards GOTO Takasuke who scored the opening goal for the Japanese side. Japan’s defence was tenacious and consistent as well, keeping the opponents from equalising the match. Then right before the end of the first period, HARAGUCHI Shotaro deflected an Oba’s attempt into the back of the net to widen the lead to two goals.

Even after the Japanese team allowed Lebanon to score back one through a sequence of superb individual plays in the 16th minute of the second period, Goto extended the lead to two goals again by quickly reacting to a loose ball off the Komaki’s chip shot. Japan kept the opponents from the finding the net by displaying solid and consistent defence in the remaining part of the second period which ended with the Japanese side taking a 3-1 lead.

In the final period, however, Japan conceded another goal at the beginning when Lebanon struck a fierce long-distance shot after the kick-off. While Japan had Goto add the team’s fourth goal with an assist by Oba in the 27th minute, the lead was cut down to one again a minute later with a scoreline now changing to 4-3. But for the rest of the match, Japan was successful in securing a win with Oba’s scoring the fifth off Komaki’s header pass in the 31st minute and lastly with Goto’s sixth off a bicycle shot right before regulation time. The final score was 6-3 in favour of Japan.

The win left Japan in third place of this championship, awarding them a final spot in the World Cup to be held in the Bahamas next month. It will be Japan’s ninth straight appearance at the Cup since the inauguration in 2005.

Coach's and Players Comments

Marcelo MENDES, Coach
I am quite happy to achieve the goal of qualifying for the World Cup. It was not easy, but we made it. The camp we had right before in Malaysia was very good as we had two practice matches and adequate number of training sessions. The first two matches of the group stage weren’t very difficult, but we let the win in the UAE match slip away from our own mistake which put us in the semi-final against Iran. The semi-final wasn’t a poor match; we certainly had a chance to win. But unfortunately we couldn’t win it because of our frivolous errors.

In today’s third-place match, we played with confidence and dominated the match. In the end, we grabbed the ticket to the Bahamas. We came to Malaysia with two objectives, qualifying for the World Cup and winning the Asian championship. I would like to say to our supporters that we are sorry for not being able to become the Asian champions. But I am glad that we came out of the qualifiers successfully. Our next target will be the World Cup. We will be in a difficult group, but I believe we are ready for this challenge. To conclude, I would like to thank everyone who has encouraged us with warm messages and the JFA for their continued support. We will keep working hard to make our next dream come true.

FP #9 AKAGUMA Takuya (Dorsole Kitakyushu)
Today’s match was our last chance for the World Cup. We came out with a win, and I felt quite relieved to be honest. We were in a situation where we could have our dream come true with the win or things turn into a nightmare with a loss. But we made sure to secure a win. The match turned out to be a valuable experience for this team and for myself as well. All of those people who supported us from Japan gave the players courage and inspiration to compete in the tournament. Also six years ago today, it was the day of the Great East Japan Earthquake. I was determined to grab a win today and bring the excellent news to cheer the Japanese people up. I am quite happy with the result.

I am truly thankful to those who never gave up and kept supporting us throughout this tournament. Thank you very much. We are still disappointed that we lost two in a row. I think we need to take those losses positively and think as a learning experience to review what we need to do both as a team and as individuals for the World Cup. To win the world competition, we have to move forward united as a team and every one of us needs to find out what have to be done before the tournament. Thanks to all the help from my teammates, team staff, fans and everyone who supported us from Japan, we finished up this tournament clinching the World Cup spot. I sincerely appreciate all the help. I will keep training hard to help my team win the World Cup.

FP #7 KOMAKI Masayuki (Veertien Mie BS)
As we realised that we had our back against the wall, our coaches, team staff and the players all fought together in this match. I am simply happy that we have achieved our first goal to qualify for the World Cup. But we still have room for improvement. We will work hard to improve as much as possible before the World Cup. I would really like to thank everyone for the support and cheers.

Schedule

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