Beach Soccer Japan National Team    Asian Beach Games　Quarter-final
Wed. 19 November 2014    Kickoff 12:15    Playing time: 12min x 3 periods
Saphan Hin Sports Center(Phuket/Thailand)

Beach Soccer Japan National Team　7-3(1st1-1, 2nd2-1, 3rd4-1)   Beach Soccer China National Team

Scores
2min　Goal Against（Beach Soccer China National Team）
5min　AKAGUMA Takuya（Beach Soccer Japan National Team）
16min OBA Takaaki（Beach Soccer Japan National Team）
19min GOTO Takasuke（Beach Soccer Japan National Team）
20min Goal Against（Beach Soccer China National Team）
25min Goal Against（Beach Soccer China National Team）
30min MOREIRA Ozu（Beach Soccer Japan National Team）
32min AKAGUMA Takuya（Beach Soccer Japan National Team）
35min ODA Hirofumi（Beach Soccer Japan National Team）
36min MATSUO Naoya（Beach Soccer Japan National Team）

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

Match Report

The Asia Beach Games wrapped up its group stage and entered the knockout stage. Japan faced China in the quarterfinals.
Two minutes into the first period, Japan allowed China to get on the scoreboard as their goalkeeper, who had scored in their Bahrain match as well, directly netted a goal. It was a play Japan was careful about, so it was a regrettable giveaway. Yet Japan quickly tied the game with a goal by AKAGUMA Takuya, and then Japan took a lead as OBA Takaaki and GOTO Takasuke scored goals. In the second period.
Japan was thought to clinch the win, but they allowed consecutive goals to China to make the game tied at three all.

It was MOREIRA Ozu, however, who stopped the bad mood for Japan. He made a long free kick Japan received on a foul to retake a lead, and then Akaguma's pressing had induced China's own goal (recorded as Akaguma's goal) to nearly clinch the game, giving Japan a 5-3 lead.

After that, Japan goalkeeper TERUKINA Shingo stopped a penalty kick while ODA Hirofumi and MATSUO Naoya scored additional goals, and Japan wound up beating China 7-3 to advance to the semifinal round.
Japan will take on Vietnam, who defeated Oman after the Japan-China contest, in the semifinals.

The Japan-Vietnam semifinal game will kick off at 1:30 p.m. In the local time on 20 November.

Comments

Marcelo MENDES Head Coach
We have won the quarterfinal game and advanced to the semifinals, and we came up with the positive result, and I would like to say congratulations to our players. They really worked well. What will we need to win the championship? If we have a unity as a team, won't make mistakes, and create chances and score some goals – if we can do this all, we can definitely win the championship. The Vietnamese team, whom we will face tomorrow, is a team that have not made top finishes in major tournament in the past. That means that they will have high motivations and as you saw them play today, if you put your guards downs, you are going to lose. I'm sure they want to take advantage of this opportunity. We will need to brace up once again to beat them with the best effort we could put up, and want to advance to the final.

TERUKINA Shingo (SOL MAR PRAIA)
Because we had lost to the UAE in the group stage on the previous day, we entered the game with a mind-set that we didn't want to have the bad mood. We'd checked on the opponents' traits in our meeting, so we played holding those. In the first two periods, though we gave up goals, I think we were playing well eliminating their traits. We allowed them to tie in the third, but we kept our cool and it paid off we ended up winning. We'll play against Vietnam tomorrow. We want to become one and win it to go to the final game.

GOTO Takasuke (TOKYO LEQUIOS BS)
For me, this is my second time to compete in the Asia Beach Games. We were eliminated in the final eight, so I'm to here avenge that this time. Before every game, the disappointment of the previous tournament gets back. It's no different between finishing as the runner-ups and being eliminated in the group stage. We are going to win the championship by any means. Every Asian team comes really hard on their marking, but we are not going to back away against it and keep scoring, and hope to bring the win to the team in the end.

Schedule