AFC Women's Futsal Championship Malaysia 2015 vs China Women's Futsal National Team
2015-9-23 (Wed.) - 14:00　Playing Time 20min.×2
Nilai Indoor Stadium (Negri Sembilan, Malaysia)

Japan Women's Futsal National Team   7-1 (5-0, 2-1)   China Women's Futsal National Team

Scores
3'   NAKAJIMA Shiori (Japan Women's Futsal National Team)
7'   KATO Saori (Japan Women's Futsal National Team)
8'   KATO Saori (Japan Women's Futsal National Team)
8'   SEKINADA Minako (Japan Women's Futsal National Team)
20'   AMISHIRO Anna (Japan Women's Futsal National Team)
33'   Goal against (China Women's Futsal National Team)
37'   HIGASHIYAMA Maiko (Japan Women's Futsal National Team)
40'   Own Goal (Japan Women's Futsal National Team)

Line-ups
GK: YAMAMOTO Ayaka
FP: HOTTA Eriko, SEKINADA Minako, NAKAJIMA Shiori, UEMOTO Yuna

Substitutes
GK: YAMASHITA Miyuki, YAMAMOTO Ayaka
FP: KATO Saori, AMISHIRO Anna, HIGASHIYAMA Maiko, KICHIBAYASHI Chikage, FUJITA Yasuka, TAKAO Akari, SEKI Kaori

All players except for GK YAMASHITA Miyuki played in the match.

Match Report

The third opponents for Japan Women’s Futsal National Team were China in the group stage of the AFC Women’s Futsal Championship Malaysia 2015. Japan’s coach ARIHARA said to the players in the locker room before the match, “This match is as important as yesterday’s match. Don’t worry about the knock-out stage now. We do our best against the opponents in front of us and show our best performance.”

Japan dominated the match from the beginning with solid defence and organised team plays. In the 3rd minute, the ball from SEKINADA Minako went over the China’s defence line, and NAKAJIMA Shiori beautifully met it for the opening goal. In the 7th minute, KATO Saori shot a thrown-in ball from the left with her first touch to the back of the net. China’s defence started to fall apart. One minute later, Kato reacted to the goalkeeper’s clearance of Nakajima’s shot, and laid it in to make the scoring 3-0.

Then Sekinada took the ball up in the middle through China’s defence, fed HOTTA Eriko on the left, received it back from her and found the back of the net. Meanwhile Japan’s defence did not relax even with the early four-goal lead. Lastly in the 20th minute, AMISHIRO Anna dribbled up from the midfield and broke through the opponents’ defence with the combination with SEKI Kaori on the right and put it into the goal just before the first half finished with 5-0 in Japan’s favour.

Although Japan attempted to keep their defensive focus in the second half to lock down China’s attacking, a Chinese player received the ball unchecked for their first goal in the 33rd minute. Conceding a goal in the second half reminded of what took place in the second halves in the two previous matches, but this time Japan successfully braced up their guard.

In the 37th minute, Japan’s beautiful passing play broke China’s formation in front of their goal and HIGASHIYAMA Maiko in the end calmly kicked the ball into the goalmouth to give the sixth goal for her team. With an own goal given to Japan when Nakajima’s feed from the left to the right hit an opposing defender into the goal in the 40th minute, Japan finished the match with a safe 7-1 lead.

As a result, Japan advanced out of the group stage a top to play the semi-final against Malaysia, second-placed team in Group A on Friday 25 September.

Amishiro Anna received the Player of the Match recognition.

Coach and Players' Comments

ARIHARA Masaaki, Coach
In this match, the important outcome was resting some of the players considering yellow cards and fatigue and at the same time making sure to achieve our goal which was winning the match. Looking back the three matches we just played, we started off very well and in the second half we couldn’t score as many goals as we did in the first half. But I don’t see it very negatively.

I rather see it that we could try different options in the second half because of the leads we gained in the first half. Then in those trials, we got good results that can help us in the upcoming semi-final and final. By having one day off, we reset our mindset and prepare well for the semi-final.

FP ＃6   HIGASHIYAMA Maiko (Bardral Urayasu Las Bonitas)
We were able to play this last match in the qualifying round well as a team. To be honest, we wanted to hold the opponents scoreless after we got the opening goal and controlled the tempo of the match in our way.

By the semi-final, we will correct the mistakes we had in the qualifying round and do good preparations as a team and as a player in order to put out the best performance in the next round. Also we owe the extra energy we got to finish out the matches to the people who supported us. I hope we continue to have that.

GK ＃16   YAMAMOTO Ayaka (LETIZIA)
Before today’s match, we were in the situation that a draw or a better result will give us first place in the pool and move us to the next round. But we were strongly determined to win the match. In the end, we won it by a big margin, but we still think we have many things to correct as it was shown in the goals we allowed in every match. We think our team are capable of facing those assignments and improving them one by one.

So in tomorrow’s practice, we will deepen our shared understanding and get us in the best shape possible for the semi-final. For all the people who support our national team in Japan and also the supporters who came all the way to Malaysia to cheer us, we will make sure to win the semi-final and go on to the final.

3rd Match vs China　Highlight

Internet Live Distribution

The knockout stage semi-final match of the “AFC Women's Futsal Championship Malaysia 2015” between the Japan Women's Futsal National Team and the Malaysia Women's Futsal National Team, which will kick-off at 19:00 on Friday 25 September (at 20:00 on Friday 25 September Japan Time), will be broadcast live on the Internet by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
*The broadcasting image cannot be guaranteed and depends on the condition of the Internet or the viewing environment.

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