Although Akaguma did not score in the final as Japan fell to a 6-0 defeat, his 11 goals played a key role in taking the East Asian side into the decider and also book a place in the 2023 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup – UAE.
“Although I won the top scorer award the defeat in the final is heartbreaking,” said Akaguma. “At first we believed that we could come back but I couldn’t do anything to improve our situation.
“Our focus next is to perform better (in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup) than what we achieved in the previous edition.”