Beach Soccer Japan National Team    Asian Beach Games 1st Game
Sun. 16 November 2014    Kickoff 11:00    Playing time: 12min x 3 periods
Saphan Hin Sports Center (Phuket/Thailand)

Beach Soccer Japan National Team   5-2 (1st 1-1, 2nd 1-1, 3rd 3-0)    Beach Soccer Malaysia National Team

Scores
4min Goal against (Malaysia)
5 min ODA Hirofumi (Japan)
13 min Goal against (Malaysia)
20 min AKAGUMA Takuya (Japan)
26 min AKAGUMA Takuya (Japan)
31 min MOREIRA Ozu (Japan)
34 min GOTO Takasuke (Japan)

Starters
GK:  TERUKINA Shingo
FP:  TOMA Masahito, MOREIRA Ozu, GOTO Takasuke, MATSUO Naoya

Substitutes
GK:  SUGITA Tetsuji
FP:  ODA Hirofumi, TAKIGUCHI Takashi, AKAGUMA Takuya, OBA Takaaki
*All the players played as substitution except GK Sugita

Match Report

Japan National Beach Soccer Team finally started their Asian Beach Games campaign on 16 November.
The squad had plenty of time to warm up on the pitch as it was the opening match of the day, so they could play the match in best form.

While Japan took the initiative soon after kickoff, Malaysia opened the score. In the 4th minute, after a loose ball from Japan’s corner kick rolled in front of an opponent, the Malaysian player dribbled past goalkeeper Terukina and put it into the unguarded net to give his side a 1-0 lead. Japan came back with Oda’s long-range drive in the first period, yet in the early second period, they allowed a lead again from a defensive mistake. Akakuma equalised on a stunning bicycle kick, and Japan tried to get back the momentum after Malaysian goalkeeper’s dismissal. But Japan could not add a goal, and the match remained tied before the third period.

Akakuma put it into the back of the net again after two seconds in the third period to give Japan an advantage for the first time in the match as Malaysian players started losing their energy to run. Afterwards, Japan composedly kept the possession against Malaysia. Moreira and Goto added goals to finish the match with a 5-2 win.

After the close win in their opening match, Japan will face the United Arab Emirates on 18th.

Comments

Marcelo MENDES, Head Coach
I’m glad we could finish the tournament opener with a victory. We failed to turn a lot of goal-scoring opportunities into a goal, which was not really a great thing. But an opening match is always tough like this. Under the tough environment with extreme hot temperature and on the deep sand, our players made their best effort against Malaysia, the team we couldn’t get much information about. The following UAE match is scheduled after one-day break. We’ll get out there coming up with our best form.

MOREIRA Ozu (TOKYO LEQUIOS BS)
We played against Malaysia under the heated condition, and the match turned out to be very tough. But we could get a win anyway. We could try some combination plays that we have practiced. For the UAE game day after tomorrow, we need some adjustments that came up in today’s game. We’ll all work together to win the UAE game and hopefully get through the group stage on top.

OBA Takaaki (DORSOLE KITAKYUSHU)
Our coach told us at the meeting yesterday that it’s important to win the opening match. I’m happy to win as told. We got off to a good start today, but we couldn’t score when we needed and eventually allowed the opponents to score the opening. We made the game tough by ourselves. But we found some other things that we need to improve. We’ll look to it, make improvements and get well-prepared for the following UAE game.

Schedule