By Pearse McLaughlin
Six of the best as Japan breeze past El Salvador 6-0 here at the Toyota Stadium. Goals came from six different goal scorers which will have pleased Hajime Moriyasu as Shogo Taniguchi, Takefusa Kubo, Ritsu Doan, Ayase Ueda, Keito Nakamura, and Kyogo Furuhashi all netted in a comfortable win.
Breakthrough for the Samurai Blue with a mere 50 seconds on the clock courtesy of Shogo Taniguchi’s bullet header. It was an inch perfect ball into the box following a set-piece on the left-hand side, it was an out swinger by Takefusa Kubo, his cross landed perfectly on the penalty spot, and Shogo Taniguchi did the rest and planted his header past the helpless Mario Gonzalez. 1-0 Japan.
A minute later and El Salvador suffered more heartache as Ronald Rodriguez got stripped for pace before hauling down Ayase Ueda inside the box. It was double jeopardy for El Salvador as they were reduced to 10 men with 2 minutes gone in the game and facing an uphill battle against a strong Japanese side. Ayase Ueda was fouled for the penalty, stood up to take it and made no mistake as he nestled the ball into the bottom right-hand corner although Mario Gonzalez did guess the right way, but it did sneak in only just. What an exciting start to the game! 2-0 after only 3 minutes.
Japan squandered a golden opportunity to make it 3-0 after only 23 minutes but Takefusa Kubo failed to accept the gift presented to him by Mario Gonzalez. The ball sat up nicely for Reo Hatate to attempt the half volley just outside the box on his weaker left foot which Mario Gonzalez palmed to his side only for the onrushing Takefusa Kubo to spare his blushes by ballooning over the rebound. It was on his weaker right foot, but a man of his quality should do a whole lot better as he had an empty net to fire into. Massive let off for El Salvador. It somehow remains 2-0.
It only took El Salvador a minute later to muster up their first half chance of the game. It came courtesy of Joshua Perez’s cross into the box which caused mayhem as Brayan Hurtado was a whisker away from getting his head to it and it evaded everyone before nearly creeping into the bottom right-hand corner, but Keisuke Osako was alert to the danger.
Takefusa Kubo made up for his horror miss just 3 minutes later as he just caresses the ball into the bottom right-hand corner. Fabulous strike by Takefusa Kubo to guide the ball home in a crowded penalty box but he has the quality on his favoured left foot. It was great play initially by Kaoru Mitoma to regain possession inside the box before laying it off to Takefusa Kubo on the edge of the box who made no mistake. 3-0 Japan.
With just a minute remaining of the first half Japan add another through Ritsu Doan who knocked the ball in on the goal line as he reacted quickest following a spill from Mario Gonzalez. It was great initial play by the mercurial Kaoru Mitoma who drove at his man before chopping inside and curling a pretty tame effort by his standards, but it somehow squirmed under Mario Gonzalez’s body and was going into the back of the net slowly, but Ritsu Doan made absolutely sure.
A fabulous showing by Japan in the first half as they lead 10-man El Salvador four nil. In all fairness it could and should have been more, but Japan have been at it from the get-go, and you can only see them adding to their lead. El Salvador will be looking to shut up shop and to make sure it isn’t a cricket score.
Five minutes after the restart and it is already 5-0 and it courtesy of another howler by Mario Gonzalez who gifted Ayase Ueda his second goal on a golden platter. It all started with Ritsu Doan being allowed time to turn and shoot inside a crowded penalty box and his left footed shot bobbled its way towards goal and you would expect Mario Gonzalez to deal with it comfortably, but he somehow parries it straight into the path of Ayase Ueda who punished him. The referee was asked to Check VAR for a possible offside on Ayase Ueda who appeared to be ahead of the last defender when Ritsu Doan hit his shot. After a quick VAR check the goal is correctly ruled out for offside as the score line remains 4-0.
Japan gets their 5th goal of the game on the hour mark courtesy of substitute Keito Nakamura who found himself in acres of space inside the box and slots the ball home leaving Mario Gonzalez with the task of picking the ball out of the back of the net. The goal came down to Takefusa Kubo’s dribbling skills and vision as he drew 3 defenders towards him before having the awareness to play the ball in between them and into the path of the unmarked Keito Nakamura.
A fairy-tale return to action is complete for Kyogo Furuhashi on the 73rd minute as he rises highest to bullet his header into the bottom right-hand corner. It all started with fellow substitute Yuki Soma finding himself in acres of space down the right-hand side before delivering a peach of a cross right onto the forehead of the talismanic Celtic FC striker, Kyogo Furuhashi. 6-0 to the Samurai Blue.
It's all over here at the Toyota Stadium as Japan destroy El Salvador by six goals to nil. It could have been more but regardless it was an emphatic performance by the Samurai Blue who will now be looking to build on this when they face Peru on Tuesday at 6:55pm KST.
Japan: Keisuke Osako, Yukinari Sugawara (Yuki Soma 46’), Ko Itakura, Shogo Taniguchi, Ryoya Morishita, Ritsu Doan (Hayao Kawabe 65’), Hidemasa Morita (Atsuki Ito 76’), Reo Hatate, Takefusa Kubo (Takuma Asano 65’), Ayase Ueda (Kyogo Furuhashi 65’), Kaoru Mitoma (Keito Nakamura 46’). Subs not used: Kosuke Nakamura, Wataru Endo, Daichi Kamada, Junya Ito, Hiroki Ito, Ayumu Seko, Daniel Schmidt, Daizen Maeda, Sota Kawasaki.
El Salvador: Mario Gonzalez, Bryan Tamacas, Eriq Zavaleta, Ronald Rodriguez, Alex Roldan (William Canales 75’), Joshua Perez, Narciso Orellana (Cristian Martinez 74’), Brayan Landaverde (Melvin Cartagena 46’), Kevin Reyes (Roberto Dominguez 27’), Brayan Hurtado (Cristian Gil 67’), Jairo Henriquez (Mayer Gil 67’). Subs not used: Erick Cabalceta, Menjivar, Harold Osorio, Tomas Romero, Pineda, Oscar Pleitez.
Reporter: Pearse McLaughlin
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