FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Portugal 2015 - Group Stage Match 1
2015-7-9 (Thu.)- 14:30     Playing Time: 12min x 3 period
Espinho Stadium (Espinho, Portugal)

Japan Beach Soccer National Team   2-4 (1st 0-1, 2nd 1-2, 3rd 1-1)   Portugal Beach Soccer National Team

Scores
4'　Goal against (Portugal)
18'　 Goal against (Portugal)
22'　 Goal against (Portugal)
23'　 HARAGUCHI Shotaro (Japan)
32'　 MATSUO Naoya(Japan)
35'　 Goal against (Portugal)

Line-ups
GK: TERUKINA Shingo
FP: HARAGUCHI Shotaro, TABATA Teruki, MOREIRA Ozu, GOTO Takasuke

Substitutes
GK: GINOZA Tomoya
FP: AKAGUMA Takuya, ODA Hirofumi, MAKINO Shinji, MATSUO Naoya, OBA Takaaki, YAMAUCHI Shusei

Match Report

The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Portugal 2015 finally got underway. The opponents of Japan National Team were host national Portugal. As fans came to the stadium to watch their home country squad, Espinho stadium was fully packed even before the kick-off. The match kicked off at 2:30 p.m. in the day-time heat of the sun.

Japan's starting line-up consisted of all Tokyo Requios BS players except for goalkeeper TERUKINA Shingo.

With a complete away atmosphere, Japanese players struggled to play as they wanted from the start. After the first 4 minutes, they fouled to give away a free kick at the centre of the pitch. Portugal directly netted it for the opening goal. Japan continued to get pressed by Portugal and failed to connect the ball in their favour before ending the first period 1-0 without creating any chance.

Yet after the first period, Japan started catching their momentum as they grabbed a chance with MOREIRA Ozu's shot on the kick-off into the second half. The shot on goal was cleared by the opponent, but Japan found their pace with the effort. Until midway through the second period, both teams had goal-scoring opportunities but failed to score a goal. The match went into a close contest.

Portugal, however, picked up Japan's clearance in the 18th minute to put it into the net for a 0-2 lead. Then three minutes later, a Portuguese player volleyed in the third goal off their superb passing move to widen the margin to three goals, which trapped Japan in a very difficult situation.

Meanwhile, HARAGUCHI Shotaro fired a shot through a pass from YAMAUCHI Shusei, who kept the ball in front of goal in the closing minutes of the second period. Haraguchi’s shot found the back of the net, and Japan showed their presence before the second period ended 3-1.

In the final period, Japan kept their rhythm they found and continued to attack. In the 32nd minute, though a penalty kick earned by GOTO Takasuke was denied by the opposing goalkeeper, MATSUO Naoya appeared before the goal to send it into the net to close the gap to one goal. Japan strived for a victory but gave up another goal to the experienced Portugal in the closing minutes to lose the opener 4-2.

The Japan's beach soccer team, who look to pass through the group stage, face Argentina in their second match on Saturday 11 July at 4 p.m. (0:00 a.m. on the same day Japan time).

Head Coach and Players’ Comments

Marcelo MENDES, Head Coach
The performance of Japanese players was very good today. It was against the host nation, but the players didn't seem to get pressured, and it was something we could've won. After we closed the gap to one goal, we would have equalised and turned the score around, if we hadn’t given up the fourth goal.

But we will focus on the next Argentina match rather than be disappointed at this result. First, we will win against Argentina and keep the hope for getting through the group stage alive.

MOREIRA Ozu (TOKYO LEQUIOS BS)
Today, it was the important opening match, and we got into the match in our favour. Everyone was never giving up the game until the end and we weren't outplayed by the opponents on the mental side. But we fell short to Portugal, who scored when they should. It's full of disappointment.

We will win the next one with this disappointing experience. The team condition is good, and if we play as we did today, we have a chance to beat Argentina. The most important thing is the mindset not giving up. As a captain, I will lead my teammates to have them play with strong motivation, not looking down.

HARAGUCHI Shotaro (TOKYO LEQUIOS BS)
I'm disappointed at the outcome of today's match. We had a good enough chance to win. The biggest reason why we lost was we had a lot of fouls and mistakes. When we were three goals down and wanted to change the run of the game the midway through the 2nd period, I scored a goal and we were able to close the gap to one goal at one time. But we were still not following through.

But it's not finished yet. We will brace ourselves up and continue to run hard to commit to the team's victory, and hopefully we can get back to Portugal in the final.

Schedule

*Local Time

Japan's Record for FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup

7 World Cup Appearances: 26 games played for 6-2-18 / 71 goals, 113 goals conceded

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Portugal 2015

Thu. 9 July - Sun. 19 July 2015
Group Stage 2nd Match
Sun. 12 July - 0:00 (Japan Time)
 Japan Beach Soccer National Team  vs. Argentina Beach Soccer National Team

More information