TAKAHARU NAKAGAWA broke Indian hearts everywhere as he scored the title-clinching goal in Japan’s 3-2 win over India in the final of the inaugural BPI AIA Asia 7s Football Championships at the McKinley Hill Stadium Sunday.
The Japanese striker—who scored a tournament high eight goals along with teammate Ryusei Okuma—received a well-placed pass by playmaker Shohei Agata and blasted a laser of a shot from 30 feet away with a minute to play.
Agata, stymied all match long by the man marking of India, called for a feed from Okuma 20 feet away from India’s goal. During a previous play, he asked Ryusei Okuma for the ball in the middle but the midfielder did not play the ball to him.
With a minute left, Agata planted himself outside the box and looked at Okuma, demanding the ball. This time, the winger acquiesced.
Agata fed Nakagawa and the striker did what he does best—score—in the process eluding valiant keeper Scott Moraes.
Japan coach Keller Costa prophesied the gold and his team delivered.
India’s game plan was excellent—they marked all of Japan’s playmakers and hardly gave them daylight for passes and looks at the goal and took Agata and Okuma out of the game, leaving Japan frustrated and at times, rudderless.
Nakagawa did foreshadow the ending if not his heroic when he scored also at death’s door in the 25th minute.
And how they came out for the second half was characteristic of the game.
Japan punched. India countered.
Clinton D’Souza found Johnson D’Silva for the equalizer two minutes into the re-set.
But India’s reverie was short-lived as three minutes later, Tomoya Sekina gave the lead back to Japan with another strike.
With an air of desperation setting in, India drew level with a Mervin Stephen goal in the 41st minute.
With the match looking more and more like it was headed into extra time, if not a penalty shootout, Costa sent Agata back into the fray, not as a striker, but as the team’s pivot in the middle. It paid dividends as he started to get a better feel for the game.
And then came the assist to Nakagawa for the match winner.
“I know I said we’d win it, but you have to say it,” Costa said. “Now you have to back up those words and I am glad the boys did. They worked hard for this.”
With the matches mostly one-sided, it was the India-Philippines elimination round match and the final that were close affairs. But at the end of the day, it was a magnificent tournament.
The Philippines bagged third place, but had to weather a late fightback from Brunei that spotted a five-goal lead by the home team for a 6-3 score.
Had Brunei made good on two penalty shots, the outcome could have been different.
Japan finished the three-day tournament at 5-0 won-lost, India 3-2, Philippines 2-3 and Brunei 0-5.
The Philippines’ MJ Libre and India’s Johnson D’Silva were second best scorers with seven each, followed by Bienvenido Marañon and Japan’s Shohei Agata with five apiece.
The TapGo TV panel judged Agata as the tournament’s Best Player. The first ever BPI AIA Asia 7s Football Championships was sponsored by BPI AIA, TapGo TV, Blaze Athletics, Palaro and the Mansion Sports Bar and Lounge.