Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kuala Terengganu: With Saturday's AFC Beach Soccer Championship final looming large, join the-AFC.com as we rewind to 2015 and relive Oman's nail-biting defeat of Japan which saw the West Asians crowned champions.
When goalkeeper Haitham Harib Showan saved the decisive spot-kick to help Oman defeat Japan 3-2 on penalties and be crowned Asian champions, the curtain came down on what had been a truly rolloercoaster 2015 AFC Beach Soccer Championship final.
Oman football legend Hani Al Dhabat had continued to write his name in the Gulf Sultanate’s football folklore when the Oman skipper opened the scoring just two minutes into the first period of the title tussle at Katara Beach in Doha.
Oman’s slender lead lasted until the 23rd minute when Al Dhabat’s Japanese counterpart Ozu Moreira, who would go on to be named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, levelled for the 2013 beaten finalists.
Moreira’s eighth of the tournament turned out to be the last goal of an evenly fought finale and with neither side able to make the breakthrough in overtime the match went into penalties.
Successful penalties from Al Dhabat and Mandhar Hilal Hamed Al Araimi were matched by Moreira and Shinji Makino and after Abdullah Masoud Salim had made it 3-2 to Oman, the pressure was on Takasuke Goto to keep Japan in the game.
However the prolific Goto, who had also scored eight times on route to the final including a penalty in Japan’s 5-3 win over Kuwait, saw his effort from nine metres saved as Japan had to once again settle for second best as Oman celebrated their AFC Beach Soccer Championship triumph.
Champions Oman, runners-up Japan and Iran, who swept aside Lebanon 8-3 in the third-place Play-off, went on to represent Asia at the 2015 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Portugal where both the Japanese and the Iranians made it through to the quarter-finals.
www.the-afc.com/en/more/photo/oman_japan_beach_soccer_final_jpg.html
