NEWS

Japan advanced to the quarterfinals of the AFC Under-16 Championship after collecting their second win in the group stage, a 6-1 victory over the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday in Tashkent.

Forward Takumi Miyayoshi scored a hat trick to help his side progress in the tournament, which also serves as a FIFA Under-17 World Cup qualifier. The top four finishers of the Asian tournament can book a place in next year’s world championship in Nigeria.
“I’m glad that we’ve got through the group stage,” Japan Under-16 coach Yutaka Ikeuchi said. “We’ve worked on fixing the problems we had in the first game, and that helped us get this result.”
Miyayoshi opened the scoring in the seventh minute after latching on to a through ball from Yuma Hiroki. Miyayoshi scored again in the 16th minute after Takashi Usami drove up on the left and crossed the ball in.
The Emirates attempted to counter with strong tackles and aggressive marking.
But in the 57th minute, Usami found Miyayoshi, who made no mistake in completing his hat trick.
Two minutes later, Tatsuya Uchida scored from close range following an Usami free-kick to put Japan 4-0 up. Forward Kenyu Sugimoto made it 5-0 with a strike off a Yuki Kobayashi corner in the 72nd minute.
Japan allowed a goal to the Emirates on a penalty taken by Fahad Salim in the 76th minute after Sugimoto handled in the box.
But Sugimoto netted Japan’s sixth goal in the 88th minute to wrap up the win for his team.
Ikeuchi said, “We maintained good concentration in defense and produced goals from the chances we had.”
“I’m glad we won,” Miyauchi commented. “As we scored early, the whole team could find their rhythm quickly. I want to win the next one too.”
Japan will play Yemen on Thursday in their third and final group match before playing the quarterfinals on Sunday. Yemen were held to a 1-1 draw by Malaysia on Tuesday.
The semifinals will be held on October 15 and the final will take place on October 18.