AFC Women's Futsal Championship Malaysia 2015 vs Iran Women's Futsal National Team
2015-9-26 (Sat.) - 19:00   Playing Time 20min.×2
Nilai Indoor Stadium (Negri Sembilan, Malaysia)

Japan Women's Futsal National Team   0-1 (0-1, 0-0)   Iran Women's Futsal National Team

Scores
8'   Goal against (Iran Women's Futsal National Team)

Line-ups
GK: YAMAMOTO Ayaka
FP: SAKATA Mutsumi, SEKINADA Minako, NAKAJIMA Shiori, KITAGAWA Kana

Substitutes
GK: YAMASHITA Miyuki
FP: HOTTA Eriko, KATO Saori, AMISHIRO Anna, HIGASHIYAMA Maiko, KICHIBAYASHI Chikage, TAKAO Akari, SEKI Kaori, UEMOTO Yuna

Non-Registered Player
GK: YAMAMOTO Ayaka
FP: FUJITA Yasuka

Match Report

Finally the day of the final match came for the AFC Women’s Futsal Championship Malaysia 2015. The opponents for Japan were Iran, and the match against the most competitive rival in Asia turned out to be a very tough one as expected. 

From the begging, both teams started attacking fiercely while laying out steady defences, too. The first crucial moment came for Japan in the 5th minute. After gaining a free-kick after an opponent’s foul, KATO Saori fed KICHIBAYASHI Chikage, who fired a powerful strike. But it just hit off the post.

Then there was Iran’s offence a moment later. They controlled the ball right in front of Japan’s goal and shot their own. Japan’s goalkeeper YAMAMOTO Ayaka composedly caught it. Although the match went on fairly evenly for a few more minutes after that, Iran scored the opening goal in the 8th minute when Japan lost the ball in their end and an Iran player rushing in the middle received the ball and successfully found the back of the net.

As Iran kept attacking after their first goal, Japan also showed quick transition from defence to their offence and went toward the Iran’s goal. But each attack fell just short before finishing with a shot. Despite very close opportunities created repeatedly, the first half ended with Japan down one goal as Iran maintained their guard stable.

The opening of the second half saw a rush of Iran’s shots toward Japan’s goal, but Japan’s defence was tenacious enough to survive through. Japan gradually found their offensive rhythm, too, and kept creating more chances. 

In the 24th minute, TAKAO Akari on the left passed by Iran’s defenders and took the ball up front, only to find nobody to meet her pass to the right. Then KITAGAWA Kana again from the left fired a vicious attempt on the turn, which went off target.

Iran’s foul allowed Japan a free-kick in the 32nd minute, where SAKATA Mutsumi struck it hard but Iran’s goalkeeper outstandingly denied it. The goalie kept showing reliable defence to prevent Japan from tying the match.

With two minutes remaining, Japan started employing power plays. They, however, were not enough to break down Iran’s defence before the match ended with a 1-0 loss for Japan, who finished the inaugural AFC Women’s Futsal Championship Malaysia 2015 at second place overall.

Coach and Players' Comments

ARIHARA Masaaki, Coach
We had played against Iran many times, and every match was very close and tough. This time I thought we were better than before, but allowing the opening goal and putting ourselves into the situation where it was easy for their game plan to prevail were the reasons why we had to play a very tough match again. 

But even in such a tough match, we courageously kept playing toward the goal and us creating many scoring opportunities deserve a fair amount of credit. But speaking of our finishes, there is a room for improvement in terms of getting them better overall and taking risks more wisely. 

We showed our persistence and determination that we won’t give it up until the end. The result was not winning the championship, but I am proud of being runners-up in the first official international tournament for women’s futsal in Asia. I think we should keep working hard to take this over to next tournaments. 

GK #1   YAMAMOTO Ayaka (SWH Ladies Futsal Club)
We finally got to this final stage. We believed that we would be able to win it if we showed all we had. The match turned out to be different from the past four matches and we had to trail them by one goal. What separated our results was whether we could finish our chances with a goal or not. Now all I feel is disappointment, but I will take advantage of this experience and keep working hard from here.

FP #4   KATO Saori (Bardral Urayasu Las Bonitas)
We were able to advance to the final. With everyone else’s emotion together in mind, I was fully charged mentally and physically before this match. We let Iran score the first goal and we really couldn’t come back from there. There were many chances but we couldn’t finish them, and the match ended up being a very disappointing one.

This was the last match that these 16 players could play together, and we really were united and played together. I will never forget this disappointing feeling and I will try to improve on it. I would like to say thank everyone for all the supports.

FP #10   NAKAJIMA Shiori (Burela Pescados Ruben)
This loss at the final is too disappointing for me to describe with words. That one goal hurt us. There were many moments we thought we almost got there, but there was still a long way to go before getting that one goal. We accept this loss and keep moving forward with it. We lost, but we kept playing all together and we got to play in this final match. These are wonderful things.

In conclusion, I would like to thank everyone so much who supported our national team. That support kept us going. We sincerely hope we will continue to have that support down the road.

Internet Live Distribution［Final Highlight］

Schedule

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

AFC Women's Futsal Championship Malaysia 2015 Group Rosters
GroupＡ Iran, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Hong Kong
GroupＢ Japan, China PR, Thailand, Vietnam