EAFF NEWS/COLUMN

Tashkent: Head coach Koichi Togashi said his halftime demand that Japan increase the tempo of their attacking play had paid dividends on Friday as the Samurai Blue fought back to secure a 2-1 win over China PR at the AFC U20 Asian Cup™ Uzbekistan 2023.

Naoki Kumata came off the bench to score twice in four second half minutes for the Japanese to cancel out Hayato Tanaka’s sixth minute own goal and earn Togashi’s side a hard-fought opening day win over their East Asian neighbours in Group D.

⏰ FT | 🇯🇵 Japan 2️⃣-1️⃣ China PR 🇨🇳

Naoki Kumata's brace spearheads Japan's come-from-behind win to get their campaign up and running in Group D!#AFCU20 | #JPNvCHN pic.twitter.com/aqZRQ8lxD0
— #AFCU20 (@afcasiancup) March 3, 2023

“As we expected, the first match is always difficult and we couldn’t manage things well at the start,” said Togashi. “But in the last 85 minutes I assessed that our team played well and we kept attacking. That was really effective and Kumata scored. .....

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