Facebook comments fired Japan up

Dubai: Japan’s coach Miguel Rodrigo was left reflecting how much that last-gasp strike against Lebanon in their opening match meant to his side as they were crowned champions for only the second time in the history of the AFC Futsal Championship here late on Friday.

Japan mesmerised Thailand 6-1 in the final of the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship to etch their name on the trophy for only the second time following their triumph in 2006.

And coach Rodrigo was left cherishing that last-gasp goal that came with just 5.3 seconds left on the clock to give the East Asians a decisive 3-2 win against Lebanon on the opening day of the competition.

After that victory, Japan went on improving with identical 6-1 wins against Tajikistan and Chinese Taipei to top Group B.

They then went on to secure a solitary goal win over Kyrgyzstan in the quarter-final before swamping Australia 3-0 in the semi-final.

“That last goal against Lebanon was the most important one for the rest of the tournament because it was a goal that secured us a leadership in the group and also acted as a great motivation to the players,” Rodrigo admitted.

“It is only the great teams can win playing badly. We played badly but we achieved this win and I told this to my players and after that we kept on improving with each game,” he added.

That greatness of the Japanese was on show in Friday’s finale as Kenichiro Kogure gave the 2006 champions a fourth minute lead, only to see Kritsada Wongkaeo put the Thais level in the 11th minute.

But Wataru Kitahara ensured Japan went into the break with a 2-1 advantage.

A mistake from Thai goalkeeper Surapong Tompa resulted in Kotaro Inaba converting the indirect free kick before MVP Rafael Henmi, goalkeeper Hisamitsu Kawahara and Tetsuya Murakami ensured Thailand’s power play option back-fired to notch an easy win.

Serious pep talks

“In the past two days I was working with the players at a psychological level, coupling jokes with serious pep talks to fire them up against Thailand. I told them yesterday that they will never be the favourites for the final. I told them that some fans on Facebook had said that the Japan coach was not too confident of this team winning the final. This helped them relax a bit, but also got them fired up and a bit angry coming into the final,” Rodrigo said.

Zhang Jilong, the acting president of the AFC presented the winner’s trophy in the presence of Yousuf Al Serkal, AFC Vice-President and President, UAE Football Association; Dr. Ahmad Saad Al Sharif, Secretary-General, Dubai Sports Council (DSC), Ebrahim Abdul Malek, Secretary-General, General Authority of Youth and Sports Welfare and Ahmad Nasser Al Fardan, Secretary-General, Sharjah Sports Council.