Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Dubai: Japan may have ran out comfortable 6-1 winners over Chinese Taipei in their final AFC Futsal Championship UAE 2012 Group B fixture on Sunday but Miguel Rodrigo, head coach of the 2006 champions, admitted his side were given a tough time in the opening period.
Chinese Taipei took a sixth-minute lead when Lo Chih-an capitalised on a slip from Tetsuya Murakami just outside the goal area and charged up the court before adroitly slipping the ball past Toru Fukimbara before Rafael Henmi equalised five minutes later as the two team went into the interval locked at 1-1 after an evenly-fought first period.
But the gulf in experience and ability told after the restart when another from Henmi, a double from skipper Kenichiro Kogure and goals from Yusuke Komiyama and Murakami saw Japan ease to victory.
“I was talking with the Chinese Taipei coach after the game and I congratulated him on his team’s performance in the first-half,” Rodrigo remarked at the post-match press conference.
“They were very well organised, performed very well in defence and we struggled to score a goal.
“The keys to the result were in the second half when we changed our defensive system and improved our set-pieces. We were also more calm in the second-half and I would like to repeat what I have said before that there are now no more easy games in Asia.”
Chinese Taipei coach Tsai Chia Feng admitted that his side lacked the experience to compete at this level and voiced his hope that the footballing authorities in his homeland and work towards developing the game for the future.
““It was the last game so we had no pressure and we have learned a lot from this match as Japan play very, very well,” he remarked.
“In this game we attacked from the start and we deserved the first goal but in all our three matches we have missed too many chances.
“We have a lot of players with potential so hopefully we can play better in future tournaments.
“We hope that the CTFA (Chinese Taipei Football Association) will work with our young players and maybe in the future we will have a strong professional league.”