PATTAYA, Thailand, March 19 (Xinhua) — China misplaced to Japan 6-1 within the second group match on the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Beach Soccer Asian Cup 2023 right here on Sunday.
China was short-handed as two gamers had been suspended after being despatched off by crimson playing cards of their 4-1 turnaround victory towards Lebanon whereas defending champions Japan strolled previous Indonesia 7-0.
Still, China took the lead due to a mistake from Japanese keeper Shinya Shibamoto within the eighth minute when his clearance was blocked by China’s Han Xuegeng, and the ball was deflected again to the Japanese objective.
However, Japan instantly rebounded and lead 2-1 within the tenth minute after Japanese goalkeeper Shibamoto redeemed himself by placing a long-range objective. Japan went on to attain 4 extra objectives to finish the match 6-1.
“The players followed the strategy that we proposed, and part of the result was good as we are improving and playing better,” mentioned Chinese head coach Marcelo Mendes after the match. “But we cannot compare with their experience.”
In the third group match, China will face Indonesia, who misplaced each their first two group matches, to vie for qualification.
“The qualification is in our hands, if we beat Indonesia, we go through to the second round, but we need to respect them and play like we played Lebanon and like we played today,” mentioned Mandes.
With a complete of 16 groups, the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup 2023 additionally serves because the qualifier for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2023, which is scheduled to be performed in November.