Beach Soccer Intercontinental Cup Dubai 2014 1st Game
Monday. 4  November 2014    Kick Off 17:30    12min x 3 periods
Dubai International Marine Club(UAE/Dubai)

Beach Soccer Japan National Team  3-9(1st 1-5、2nd 2-2、3rd 0-2)   Beach Soccer Russia National Team

Scores
4min    Goal Against(Beach Soccer Russia National Team)
8min    Goal Against(Beach Soccer Russia National Team)
9min    Goal Against(Beach Soccer Russia National Team)
9min    Goal Against(Beach Soccer Russia National Team)
9min    TOMA Masahito(Beach Soccer Japan National Team)
9min    Goal Against(Beach Soccer Russia National Team)
14min   Goal Against(Beach Soccer Russia National Team)
18min   GOTO Takasuke(Beach Soccer Japan National Team)
18min   Goal Against(Beach Soccer Russia National Team)
20min   HARAGUCHI Shotaro(Beach Soccer Japan National Team)
32min   Goal Against(Beach Soccer Russia National Team)
36min   Goal Against(Beach Soccer Russia National Team)

Starters
GK： TERUKINA Shingo
FP：  ODA Hirofumi、GOTO Takasuke、 MOREIRA Ozu、HARAGUCHI Shotaro

Substitutes
GK：  SUGITA Tetsuji
FP：  MAKINO Shinji、TOMA Masahito、AKAGUMA Takuya、OBA Takaaki

Non-registered members
TAKIGUCHI Takashi、MATSUO Naoya

Match Report

The Beach Soccer Japan National Team played their first game on 4 November in the Intercontinental Cup 2014. They played against the previous World Cup champion and the world's top-ranked team, the Russian national team.

In the meeting before lunch, the head coach Marcelo encouraged the players by telling them that it was lucky for them to be in the same group with such strong teams like Russia and Brazil, as that was what Japan needed. He also told them that Japan had improved enough to deserve playing against them. Then they discussed the character and skills of Russia, and tips for playing against a strong team.

The match kicked off at 17:30. Some shadows started to appear around the stadium.
Within 4 minutes from the start, the situation changed dramatically. Mistakes are fatal when a team plays against a stronger one. Japan made a combination mistake in their area and conceded a goal. Then in the 8th and 9th minutes, they consecutively conceded three goals. Although Toma Takefumi scored a goal in the first period, the game went into the second period at 5-1.

In the second period, Goto Takasuke and Haraguchi Shotaro struck superb goals. The score ended at 2-2, but one of Russia’s goals was unfortunately from Japan’s mistake.

In the third period, once again Japan conceded goals from their mistakes and they lost the game by a wide margin, 9-3.

In the changing room the players were devastated by an unexpectedly large defeat. Marcelo, the head coach, gave a pep talk to them. He said, ‘remember what you have achieved! Show what you’ve got! You can do better tomorrow!’

Japan will play against the Brazilian national team on 5 November.

Comments

Marcelo MENDES, Head Coach
To be honest, it was not a good game at all and it was a poor performance from the players, I must say. They could have done so much better. By conceding four goals in the early stage of the game, our tactics fell apart and Russia could focus on controlling the game. They need a good rest tonight to recover for the match tomorrow. We’d like to stay confident and show you a better performance against Brazil.

MOREIRA Ozu (TOKYO LEQUIOS BS)
In today’s match against Russia, the way we started the game was really bad. We couldn’t show off Japan’s rapid game at all. We’re gutted we couldn’t play our style against the world's top-ranked team, Russia, and we conceded many goals from our own mistakes. As we consecutively conceded goal after goal, we trailed their lead. We’ll play against another strong team, Brazil, tomorrow. I’d like to learn from today’s match, go through the coach’s instruction again with my teammates, and get ourselves ready for tomorrow.

GOTO Takasuke (TOKYO LEQUIOS BS)
It was a really good opportunity for us to play against the world champion Russia at this time of the season. However, I found we haven’t fixed any of the issues from the match against Portugal in July. Although we conceded most of the goals from our own mistakes, I was impressed by the finishing quality of Russia, who definitely scored from the opponent’ mistakes. On the other hand, I felt our team is not united properly yet despite the fact that we had a good atmosphere before the match, during the practice sessions and at the hotel. It was difficult to communicate enough during the match. We spent only a limited time as the Japan national team, unlike our own club teams, with which we practice everyday. Even so, I know we have to carry on. We need to play more matches and communicate more, so that we can improve our team day by day. Every match is very important. We’ll have another chance to improve in the match against Brazil tomorrow. Of course, I’ll play to win, scoring goals.

Schedule