Takuya Suzumura waves to Japanese fans after scoring against the Philippines. AFC photo by Hiroaki Katsumata

OSAKA: Reigning champions Japan have begun their AFC Futsal Championship title defence in the best possible fashion, trouncing the Philippines 16-0 at the Osaka Municipal Central Gymnasium today.

In the other group game, Tajikistan came through 6-4 against Hong Kong and took a big step towards qualifying for the quarterfinals.

Kenichiro Kogure struck the first blow in the sixth minute for the Japanese, before adding two further goals later in the match to claim a hat-trick, with Takuya Suzumura netting four times in between braces from Yuki Kanayama and Goshi Koyama, with single strikes from Takeshi Kishimoto, Yusuke Komiyama, Wataru Kitahara, Rikarudo Higa and Daisuke Ono rounding out the scoring.

The 16-0 score line was Japan’s third largest winning margin in AFC Futsal Championship history, while the thrashing was also the Philippines’ heaviest ever defeat at the championship.

By full time, all but one of Japan’s ten nominated field players, captain Kente Fujii, had found the back of the net.

Such was the dominance of the home side, coach Sapo was able to make consistent wholesale changes throughout the match, with key players Fujii, Kawahara and Kogure all enjoying extended spells on the bench – an ominous sign of the depth at Sapo’s disposal.

“It was our first game, and it’s normal for players to be nervous, but we held it together well and played some fantastic futsal,” said Sapo after the match.

“All the players played well, we tried a few combinations of players and all worked quite well.”

AFC Futsal Player of the Year Kogure ignited the rout for the home side in the sixth minute, before adding another before the break. Further goals to Kanayama, Kishimoto and Koyama, in addition to Suzumura’s brace saw the tournament favourites boast a 7-0 half time lead – five of which were scored in the final seven minutes. While unquestionably the dominant side of the opening period, Japan were made to work for their goals by a hard-working Philippines line up.

Goalkeeper Romeo Francis Paranpan made several outstanding, if sometimes unwitting saves, with noble assistance on occasion from talismen Ali Bernard Go and Ariel Zerrudo, whose seven goals in qualifying earned the Phillipines their third ever championship berth.

Japan started the second half as they had ended the first – slamming a further four goals past their opponents within the opening ten minutes.

Despite Sapo’s regular changes – at times the entire four-man field player combination, Japan maintained their dominance right through to the final whistle, supplying the partisan local crowd of 1,552 on hand with plenty of cause for optimism ahead of Japan’s remaining group matches against Hong Kong and Tajikistan.

“Japan was playing world class futsal, we tried our best, but Japan were world class,” said Philippines coach Esmaeil Sedigh.

“We’re talking about Japan here, we tried an entirely different game plan to what we would normally because they are out of our class, in our upcoming group games we will adjust the way we play against nations that play at a standard similar to ours.”

Japan continue their quest for back-to-back AFC Futsal Championship titles at 7pm tomorrow against Hong Kong at Osaka’s Municipal Central Gymnasium, with the Philippines needing three points against Hong Kong at 5pm to keep alive their hopes of progression to the final eight.

The Tajikistan-Hong Kong match was a see-sawing encounter between two sides eager to entertain whilst staking their claim for a berth in the knockout stages, it was the central Asians who prevailed by an ultimately comfortable two-goal margin.

Rustan Khodjaev and Sherzod Jumaev netted twice for the victors, while Firdavs Faizullaev and Alisher Oulmassov added one a piece.

In response, Yue Hung Kwok scored twice for Hong Kong – Kwok Leung Chu and Sheung Kwai So adding the rest. “It was a very interesting game, at the previous Championships, we were also in the same group as Hong Kong, they are a long time friend of ours and we believe that we’re at the same level, but I suppose we were lucky today,” said Tajikistan coach Kamaletdinov Damir.

“One of our goals is to qualify for the semi finals, Uzbekistan lost today, having seen that result unfold, we have confidence that we can push our way into the top four.”

Tajikistan were on the board after only two minutes, with Damir’s charges doubling their lead only seconds later before Hong Kong responded with three goals in the space of six minutes.

However, Jumaev netted his first of the evening in the eleventh minute to see both teams enter the tunnel with three goals to their name.

Just as Tajikistan had begun the first half, Hong Kong began the second – Yue Hung Kwok slotting home with barely thirty seconds up in the second stanza.

But also as Hong Kong did in the first half, Tajikistan recovered from their early setback to take the lead themselves. “I think it was a very exciting game, we were leading 4-3 and then, unfortunately, some of players got nervous, we lost our shape and then lost the game,” said Hong Kong coach Wai Chung Tsang. “This was a good learning experience for my players, for some of them, this is their first time competing at this level and they are not really familiar with futsal.”

The value of Tajikistan’s win is underlined by Japan’s 16-0 flogging of Group A minnows the Philippines earlier in the day, which suggests that the further three points Tajikistan require to secure their quarter final place is a mere formality.

Hong Kong now face the unenviable task of backing up against the tournament hosts tomorrow, whose opening day win has enhanced their pedigree as one of Asia’s flagship futsal nations.