In Thursday’s Group D opener, Nobuya Osodo and Yusuke Nakamura each scored hat-tricks as Japan underlined their ambition to defend their AFC Futsal Championship by romping to a one-sided 12-0 win.

But having faced the 2012 AFC Futsal Championship quarter-finalists at the 2013 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, Rodrigo is expecting a different challenge at Ton Duc Thang University Stadium on Saturday despite Uzbekistan having been held to a 2-2 draw by Kyrgyzstan on Thursday.

“Uzbekistan play in a similar way to us. They play a modern style of futsal as they had a Spanish coach a few years ago,” said Japan’s Spanish coach Rodrigo.

“At the last Asian Indoor games we played them and won 5-4 but it was a tight game. I imagine the next match will be defined by lots of small details.

“They played Iran last week and we have watched the video, so I still believe they are at a high level and it will be a tough game for Japan.”

Uzbekistan were leading by two goals at half-time against Kyrgyzstan, but conceded twice inside the final three minutes as their fellow 2012 quarter-finalists claimed a share of the spoils.

“Japan is one of the strongest teams in Asia and it will be hard for us,” said Uzbekistan coach Bahodir Ahmedov.

“But we will try our best as every team in Asia wants to beat Japan.”

And Kyrgyzstan will look to build on their opening draw against a Korea side reeling from their heavy defeat by Japan, although coach Rustam Isaev is taking nothing for granted.

“Korea are also a strong team as they have a Spanish coach,” said Kyrgyzstan coach Isaev.

“They play a high standard, and despite their defeat by Japan, we think they are a strong team.”

Korea’s Spanish coach Raul Gonzalez, meanwhile, is looking for significant improvements from his side having graciously accepted Thursday’s defeat by Japan.

“We have some references for the next opponent and we will also watch their game against Uzbekistan.” said Gonzalez.

“One of the positive things from the Japan match was that the 12 goals were due to mistakes by ourselves and we can find a solution for that and work on that for the next match.”