Courtesy: Japan Times


Japan thrashed in 1st Futsal World Cup knockout game

Monday, Nov. 12, 2012

BANGKOK — Japan's first appearance in the knockout round of a Futsal World Cup was brief, ending in a 6-3 defeat to Ukraine in the round of 16 on Sunday.

Trailing 6-0 just 16 minutes into the game with Kotaro Inaba having received a red card, Japan came to life in the second half as they had in a dramatic 5-5 group-stage draw against Portugal.

With about 10 minutes left to play, Kaoru Morioka scored twice in the span of 27 seconds to put Japan on the scoreboard, and Wataru Kitahara added a third in the 32nd minute. Another shot struck the post as Japan's furious fight back saw them outshoot Ukraine 38 to 26, but it was too little, too late.

Sergiy Cheporniuk opened the scoring for Ukraine. By the time Denys Ovsiannikov had scored twice in the 16th minute, the Europeans were in complete command with a 6-0 lead. That was all Ukraine could muster, but it was enough to see them advance to the quarterfinals.

The two teams had met on Oct. 27 in a friendly, when Japan won 3-1.






Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com