Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Ho Chi Minh City: Nobuya Osodo and Yusuke Nakamura each scored hat-tricks as Japan underlined their ambition to defend their AFC Futsal Championship title following a one-sided 12-0 win over Korea Republic in Thursday’s Group D opener.
Kazuhiro Nibuya also scored twice while Akira Minamoto, Shunta Uchimura, Toru Sato and Kaoru Morioka were also on target at Ton Duc Thang University Stadium.
Japan had only led by four goals at half-time, but eight goals in the second half underlined the gulf in class and sent out a clear warning with Miguel Rodrigo’s side looking to claim a third AFC Futsal Championship title this month in Vietnam.
“I am happy with the result, but I honestly did not expect such a big difference. I had expected a difference of two or three goals,” said Japan coach Rodrigo.
“But we played well and worked hard in defence and finished most of our chances and that was key as we did not let Korea come into the game. Concentration was key as we did not let them play their game and we played ours.
“We have a lot of young players and this will serve as motivation for them.”
Korea’s goal came under intense pressure from the first whistle with goalkeeper Lee Kyung-ho called into action numerous times inside the opening minutes, with Japan’s opponents attempting to alleviate the strain with several long range efforts.
But Korea’s resistance lasted less than three minutes as Shota Hoshi’s pullback was turned home by Nibuya from close range with Lee given no chance.
And a second goal arrived just three minutes later as Osodo took advantage of a defensive slip before emphatically firing high past an exposed Lee
Japan continued to dominate, but had to wait until just over four minutes before half-time to add a third as Nakamura followed up after Lee had saved from Hoshi.
And Japan extended their advantage to four goals at half-time as last-man Kim Ho-jin was caught in possession and Osodo raced clear before coolly sliding the ball past Lee, who was again left with little to do.
A fifth arrived nine minutes into the second half courtesy of Minamoto before Uchimura slipped the ball through the legs of Lee two minutes later to further extend the advantage.
And that lead was soon stretched to seven with nine minutes remaining as Lee failed to hold Osodo’s angled shot and the ball agonisingly dribbled across the line for his third of the afternoon.
Nakamura converted Hoshi’s through ball at the back post two minutes later for Japan’s eighth before Nibuya further extended the lead with five minutes remaining as he beat Lee at his near post.
Japan brought up double figures with just over four minutes remaining as Sato converted following an unselfish pass by Nakamura, who then completed his hat-trick three minutes later with a close range finish with Korea in disarray.
And Morioka’s emphatic finish with just over a minute remaining completed the scoring.
“It was very clear before the match that Japan are at a higher level, but this match was only preparation for the next match to allow us to recognise our mistakes. The main objective was to allow us to recognise where we can improve to prepare for the upcoming matches,” said Korea coach Raul Gonzalez.
“It is clearly a bad result for the players’ morale, but we need to analyse the match and see what mistakes we can identify and look to improve for the remaining matches.”