Beach soccer World Cup: Japan puts an end to Senegal's dreams of the final

The Senegalese have never been able to turn the tide against Japan this Saturday, August 28, 2021. REUTERS - EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA

Text by: Pierre Fesnien Follow

3 min

Defeated 5-1 by Japan in the semi-finals of the Beach Soccer World Cup, Senegal said goodbye to their dreams of a final.

The Lions will however be able to console themselves with a match for third place this Sunday against Switzerland, while the Japanese face Russia.

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After their historic quarterfinal victory against Brazil, the tournament's most successful team, the wildest hopes were allowed for the Teranga Lions.

Their dreams of the final were however shattered on the realism of the Japanese who were able to manage this meeting perfectly.

This is perhaps what the Senegalese lacked the most, certainly a little overwhelmed by the challenge of the first semi-final in their history at the World Cup.

The game will in any case have started with an observation sequence between the two teams since the first third time ended with a goalless draw.

It was after the first break that Japan worked double by opening the hostilities with a first goal from Takuya Akagama in the 15th minute.

While the second third time ended with a score of 1-0, hope remained for the men of Oumar Sylla, even more when barely a minute after the return from the locker room, captain Babacar Fall equalized for the Lions.

But the thinning was only short-lived, as a minute later, Takaaki Oba scored the 2-1 goal before Masanori Okuyama came to weigh down the score in the 27th.

Objective fulfilled

The memory of the comeback against Brazil

two days earlier could give hope for a new scenario with rebounding but this time the Senegalese did not manage to repeat the exploit.

Takuya Akaguma even scored his team's fourth goal in the 29th, before scoring a hat-trick a few minutes later.

Pape Mar Boye's goal in the meantime will not change anything at the end of the match.

đŸ˜± Senegal is hara-kiri!

🇾🇳



⚔ The Lions fall with arms in hand, beaten by Japan in the semifinals of the #BeachSoccerWC 2021 😱



đŸ’ȘThe Blue Samurai make an appointment with the RFU in the final 👊 pic.twitter.com/EtxeqhwDzM

- FIFA.com (FR) ⚜ (@fifacom_fr) August 28, 2021

Despite the disappointment, the Teranga Lions nevertheless fulfilled their goal of reaching the semi-finals of the competition for the first time.

We will now have to re-mobilize the troops to get third place against Switzerland this Sunday.

At the same time, the Japanese will face in the first final in their history Russia, who will try to claim their third world title at Luzhniki Beach Soccer Arena in front of their home crowd.

â–șFind the final table of the competition

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