Japan loses to Korea Republic, fails to reach the AFC Youth Championship final Wednesday, 06/10/04 Japan's Under-19s failed to reach the final of the AFC Youth Championship after losing to Korea Republic 3-1 in a penalty shootout following a 2-2 draw in the semifinals in Kuala Lumpur on October 6. Three of the Japanese kickers - Tatsuya Masushima, Hokuto Nakamura and Sota Hirayama - failed to convert their spot kicks, while the Koreans made four of theirs. The Japanese boys had leveled the score twice over the 120 minutes. Korea Republic went ahead in the 33rd minute with a goal from Baek Ji Hoon. Japan had to wait until two minutes into second-half injury time, when forward Kazuma Watanabe found the net by heading home a Hirayama cross five minutes after coming off the bench. The equalizer took the game into extra time. Although Korea Republic took the lead again in the 112th minute through Park Chu Young, Hirayama beat his marker to knock in a cross from Takuya Kokeguchi in the dying moments of extra time. "We went to a penalty shootout (in our previous match) and that might have given extra pressure to our players," Japan Under-19 team coach Kiyoshi Okuma said. "Our players played hard to level the game twice. But the game showed we have a lot to work on." Japan will play Syria in the third-place playoff at the same venue on October 9. Teams: (Japanese team only) Japan---Shusaku Nishikawa, Yuzo Kobayashi (Kazuma Watanabe, 87th), Tatsuya Masushima, Hiroki Mizumoto, Shingo Hyodo, Isei Takayanagi (Takayuki Morimoto, 78th), Hokuto Nakamura, Takuya Kokeguchi, Hiroki Nakayama (Keisuke Funatani 67th), Sota Hirayama, Robert Cullen. Coach, Kiyoshi Okuma -- 得罪了方丈還想跑！！ 喝！！看我們的「少林寺十八銅人」！！ --

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