KUALA TERENGGANU: Japan produced their best performance to date but it was not enough as they went down fighting 6-8 to Iran in the semi-final of the 2017 AFC Beach Soccer Championship at Batu Burok.
Iran’s win secured them a berth for the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Nassau, The Bahamas from April 27 to May 7, along with the United Arab Emirates who beat Lebanon 2-1 in penalties after a 4-4 draw at full time, in the other semi-final.
Japan still has a shot to make the trip to the Bahamas for Asia’s third slot if they can beat Lebanon
in tomorrow’s (Saturday) third-place match that will precede the Iran-UAE final.
In the Iran-Japan clash, Japan drew first blood through a Takasuke Goto header but Iran equalised almost immediately through a strong strike by skipper Mohammad Ahmadzadeh.
Iran went on the offensive and rattled Japan through a hard strike then a fast header on the rebound by Hassan Abdollahi but it hit the woodwork.
Japan rallied strongly and was rewarded when Takuya Akaguma struck home from a distance, catching custodian Hamid Behzadpour off guard.
Iran replied once more to level terms when Moslem Mesigar’s free kick bounced on the sands and into the goal to make it 2-2.
Japan regained the lead through Takaaki Oba but Mohammadali Mokhtari’s penalty neutralised the score to 3-3 at the end of the first period.
Upon resumption, Japan went ahead 4-3 thanks to skipper Ozu Moreira’s beautiful free kick a minute into the second period but it was Hassan who scored again for Iran when his free kick hit the post and rolled into goal.
Iran went ahead 5-4 for the first time via Mohammadali, who claimed his second goal in the match a minute before the second period’s buzzer.
Iran widened the gap to 6-4 with a neat turn followed by a hard strike by Mohammad to double his tally after the restart but Akaguma netted his second to reduce Japan’s deficit with an impressive volley in front of goal.
But Iran scored again to make 7-5 thanks to Seyed Nazem’s strong delivery followed by a formidable strike by Hassan for his third to make it 8-5 with three minutes remaining.
Goto again slammed home Japan’s sixth goal but that was as far as they went.
In the UAE-Lebanon semi-final, UAE’s Haitham Mohamed and Hasham Al Muntaser converted the penalties while only Mohamad Merhi converted Lebanon’s in the test of nerves.
In the run of play, Lebanon went ahead when goalkeeper Mohamed Choker converted a penalty after a teammate was brought down in the box.
But Ahmed Grada immediately equalised for the UAE who then went ahead 2-1 through Hitham Mohamed. UAE extended to 3-1 when Ali Mohamad scored but Mohamad Matar reduced the deficit for Lebanon to 3-2.
Skipper Mohamad Merhi then levelled accounts for Lebanon to make it 3-3 before converting a penalty to put Lebanon ahead with 4-3.
Ali Mohammad saved the day for UAE with a late equaliser as both teams went into extra-time but failed to break the 4-4 deadlock to contest the penalty shootout.