- ANTARA/ISSEI KATO
VIVA – Japan won the 2022 East Asian Football Championship or EAFF Cup for the second time after beating defending champion, South Korea National Team with a score of 3-0 in the last match at Toyota Japan on Wednesday, July 27, 2022.
The Japan National Football Team considers this year's regional championship title to be the first since 2013.
Second-half goals from Yuki Soma, Sho Sasaki and Shuto Machino ensured Hajime Moriyasu's side grabbed the winning points they needed to move South Korea off the top of the table to finish the tournament with seven points from three games.
It is known, South Korea has won the previous three editions of this EAFF. For this year, South Korea must accept being in second place. While China is in third place with a 1-0 win over Hong Kong.
Japan in the match featured a team lineup consisting entirely of players based in the J-League.
They dominated the first half, with Soma coming close in the minute of 19 when his low shot went past goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo but still hit the post.
But the Nagoya Grampus made no mistake in the fourth minute of the second half, as he slipped behind the Korean defense to head home Joel Fujita's right-wing cross and the ball past goalkeeper Jo.
Fourteen minutes later it was Soma's turn to provide the assist from a corner which was met by Sasaki's header for the second goal.
Sutho Machino rounded out Japan's victory when he scored from close range 18 minutes from time. Both Japan and South Korea will be among Asia's representatives at the World Cup finals in Qatar in November.
Japan in the World Cup is in the same group with Germany, Spain and Costa Rica while Korea will compete with Uruguay, Portugal and Ghana.
