USA comes up short against Japan in second FIFA Beach World Cup match

MOSCOW – The U.S. Beach Soccer Men’s National Team fell to Japan 4-3 in its second Group A match at the 2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup at the Luzhniki Beach Soccer Stadium. Gabriel Silveira scored his first World Cup goal with a thundering bike while Alessandro Canale and Nicolas Perea each added their third goal in two games.

Playing in his third World Cup, Canale has matched Nick Perera and Ben Astorga for the second-most U.S. goals at the World Cup with seven. The record is held by Anthony Chimienti, who scored nine over three tournaments.

Tanner Akol became the fifth player to make his World Cup debut during this year’s tournament, joining Nicolas Perea, Chris Albiston, Fredo Dilbert and Conner Rezende, who all debuted in the opener against the Football Union of Russia.

With tonight’s result, Japan has secured one of the top two positions in Group A with six points through two games. In the later game, the Football Union of Russia defeated Paraguay on penalty kicks after a 4-4 draw, taking the single point that comes with a penalty-kick win.

The second-place position in Group A will be on the line on Monday, August 23 with the three other teams in the group carrying hope. The USA and Paraguay square off at 7 p.m. local (1 p.m. ET), followed by Japan versus Football Union of Russia at 8:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. ET). Should the USA or Paraguay claim three points by winning in regulation, the final spot will be determined in the later match. In this scenario, a loss by RFU would put the hosts and either the USA or Paraguay at three points. The tiebreakers would be goal differential followed by goals for. If still tied, the next tiebreaker is head-to-head.

Head coach Francis Farberoff selected the same starting five from the opening match to face Japan, but it was the second shift that put the USA ahead. Chris Toth picked out Silveira on the left side, who chested the ball up to himself and hit a powerful bike from 18 yards out to the far upper 90 for his first World Cup tally.

Japan countered with three unanswered goals. Masanori Okuyama pounced on a back pass and tucked the ball in past Toth to level, Ozu put Japan ahead on a first-time strike from close-range before the end of the second and Takaaki Oba increased the lead on a penalty kick to open the third period.

Canale then gave the U.S. hope when he banged home a rebound off a Silveira bike that hit the crossbar for his seventh career World Cup goal. Nicolas Perea cut the deficit to one when he tapped across a pass from Canale at the doorstep.

However Japan’s Shusei Yamauchi put away his chance for the game-winner, scoring from 10 yards out on the left side. The goal marked his fourth in two games at the World Cup.

-U.S. BEACH SOCCER MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM MATCH REPORT-

Match: United States Beach Soccer Men’s National Team vs. Japan
Date: August 19, 2021
Competition: 2021 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup – Group A
Venue: Luzhniki Beach Soccer Stadium; Moscow, Russia
Attendance: 1500
Kickoff: 9:30 a.m. ET (4:30 p.m. local time)
Weather: 75 degrees; clear

Scoring Summary: 1 2 3 F
USA 1 0 2 3
JPN 1 1 2 4

USA – Gabriel Silveira (Chris Toth) 9’14” (1st Period)
JPN – Masanori Okuyama 8’08” (1st)
JPN – Ozu Moreira 1’07” (2nd)
JPN – Takaaki Oba (PK) 8’39” (3rd)
USA – Alessandro Canale 7’10” (3rd)
USA – Nicolas Perea (Canale) 7’10” (3rd)
JPN – Shusei Yamauchi 5’55” (3rd)

Lineups:

USA: 1-Chris Toth, 5-Nicolas Perea, 6-Jason Santos, 7-Nick Perera (Captain), 9-Alessandro Canale

Substitutes: 12-Estaban Sapetnitzky, 3-David Mondragon, 4-Tanner Akol, 8-Lucas Roque, 10-Gabriel Silveira, 13-Fredo Dilbert, 14-Conner Rezende

Alternates: 11-Xavier Snaer-Williams, 14-Conner Rezende

Head coach: Francis Farberoff

JPN: 1-Yusuke Kawai, 6-Takuya Akaguma, 7-Takaaki Oba, 8-Naoya Matsuo, 10-Ozu Moreira (Captain)

Substitutes: 12-Ginzo Tomoya, 3-Ryota Tsuboya, 4-Ryunosuke Miyama, 5-Shotaro, Haraguchi, 9-Shusei Yamauchi, 11-Masanori Okuyama, 14-Takumi Uesato

Alternates: 2-Takumi Saito, 13-Yu Shirota

Head coach: Teruki Tabata

Misconduct Summary:
USA – Alessandro Canale (caution) 6’ (1st Period)

Officials:
Referee: Aurelien Planchais-Godefroy (TAH)
Second Referee: Ingilab Mommadov (AZE)
3rd Referee: Lukasz Ostrowski (POL)
Timekeeper: Sofien Benchabane (FRA)