Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Terengganu: Japan claimed their second win in the 2017 AFC Beach Soccer Championship campaign after they crushed Iraq 11-2 in Group C in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia on Tuesday.
The win maintained Mendes Marcelo’s side top of the group above the UAE in second who also claimed their second victory by beating Qatar 8-1 in an earlier game.
It did not take long for Japan to open their account with a Takaaki Oba double before Takuya Akaguma scored Japan’s third in the match, his fourth in the tournament, with a gentle side-foot nudge.
Akaguma again scored as he beautifully connected with a Hiroaki Iso precision corner and headed home before another header, this time by Takasuke Goto, closed the first period with a 5-0 score-line.
The second period started with a Shingo Terukina goal but Iraq replied with their first shortly after when Hussein Ibrahim fired home from a distance, before Japan scored again with a Shotaro Haraguchi angle strike to end the second period.
Oba duly registered his third on the restart to make it 8-1 before the period saw another powerful scissors kick this time by Jun Sakata shortly after.
Mustafa Mohammed then cut the deficit for Iraq but Japan answered with a strike by Brazilian-born Ozu Moreira, registering his fifth in the competition.
Oba then struck his fourth and Japan’s 11th after connecting with a Goto back-heel pass as the game ended and consigned the Iraqis to their second straight defeat in the competition.
The top three finishers at the AFC Beach Soccer Championship will represent Asia at the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, which is scheduled to be held in Nassau, Bahamas from April 27 to May 7.
Photo: AFC