Yesterday in the first sparring match, Nikolai Kostenko's protégés lost with a score of 2:4 after an evenly matched battle. Today on the same field at Okura Beach Park in Akashi, the Japanese team, ranked fourth globally (Ukraine is 17th), started much stronger.

By the fifth minute, they were leading 3-0. Initially, Osu Moriyama capitalized on a gross mistake by the Ukrainians in defense, then Takuya Akaguma scored after an excellent combination play into essentially empty goals, and finally, Morinori Okuyama converted a penalty kick. To their credit, the blue-and-yellow team rallied after this knockdown blow, and at the eighth minute, Dmytro Voytenko closed out a flank pass, slightly narrowing the gap to 1-3.

In the second twelve-minute period, opponents played mostly on counterattacks but without many sharp moments. However, in the 21st minute, Andriy Pashko successfully positioned himself near the far post and managed to outmaneuver the goalkeeper, reducing their lead to one goal.

At the start of the third period, our opponents executed a perfect combination play, and Takuya Akaguma scored his second goal with a header. Near the end of the match, teams delighted spectators on the stands, many of whom were Ukrainians, with spectacular scissors goals. First, the same Akaguma recorded a hat-trick, and then Dmytro Voytenko marked his double. The final score was set by Tanaka Yasato, who scored into empty blue-and-yellow nets.

Thus, 3-6 — Ukraine's second loss.

Friendly match between national beach soccer teams

Japan - Ukraine - 6:3

Goals: Osu Moriyama (2), Akaguma (4, 27, 33), Okuyama (5), Yasato (34) — Voytenko (8, 16), Pashko (21).

Ukraine: Nerush, Kovalenko, Korinychuk, Voytok, Medvid', Voytenko, Zavorotnyi, Pashko, Levchenko, Verbitskyi, Borsuk, Shchitnik.

Thus, the Ukrainian beach soccer national team concluded a nearly week-long training camp in Japan at the invitation of the local football association and is returning home.