Japan Undefeated After Trouncing Chinese Taipei at AFC Futsal Championship

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Japan concluded their group stage campaign at the AFC Futsal Championship UAE 2012 with a 100% record following a 6-1 victory over Chinese Taipei at the Al Wasl Indoor Stadium on Sunday.

Having already booked their place in the last eight following earlier victories over Lebanon (3-2) and Tajikistan (6-1) Japan were looking for the win that would see them top the table and face the runners-up in Group A while Chinese Taipei were looking to bow out of the tournament on a high having lost 3-2 and 6-4 respectively to the same opponents.

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, who was starting in place of Hisamitsu Kawahara who had guarded the nets in the previous two Group B fixtures.

Japan equalised five minutes later when Wataru Kitahara laid the ball into the path of Rafael Henmi who fired home his third of the campaign following his dramatic winner against Lebanon and his 34th minute strike in Saturday’s triumph over the Tajiks.

Henmi got his second of the match and his fourth of the campaign just seconds after Japan kicked-off the second period in a goal reminiscent of the way the way they started the match against Tajikistan that led to Yusuke Komiyama scoring the fastest goal in AFC Futsal Championship history.

Komiyama made it 3-1 in the 28th minute before skipper Kenchiro Kogure drove the ball home from an acute angle three minutes as the gulf in quality and experience between the two East Asian nations began to become much more evident.

In the 33rd minute Kogure netted Japan’s fifth before the Japan skipper’s cutback allowed Tetsuya Murakami to curl the ball through a crowded area and just inside keeper Pan Wen-chieh’s left-hand post as Japan completed the 6-1 up with five minutes remaining.