NEWS

Sudamericana Cup winners Internacional of Brazil beat J. League Nabisco Cup holders Oita Trinita 2-1 in the 2009 Suruga Bank Championship at Kyushu Oil Dome in Oita on Wednesday night.

Oita battled hard against the Brazilian powerhouse and the first half ended 0-0.
But the Brazilians showed their offensive power in the second half and went ahead in the 51st minute through forward Alecsandro. They made it 2-0 with a mid-range strike from midfielder Andrezinho in the 60th minute.
A minute later, Oita replied through 19-year-old midfielder Keigo Higashi to cut the deficit to 2-1. But the J. League side, who had 15 attempts at goal to the visitors’ eight, couldn’t find the target.
Oita manager Ranko Popovic stated, “I’m not satisfied with the game as we lost it. But we’ve got some positives from it – some of our younger players started today and did well against the South American champions. I’m sure they can develop their game more and more.
“We created more chances than our opponents and displayed beautiful football. I think we proved the standard of Japanese football and promoted it.”
Internacional manager Tite commented, “This is our sixth title over the last four years and I’m satisfied with the result.
“The game turned out to be a tough game, but we managed to hang in there, and we had better finishing. Oita are a good team and they could be ranked higher in the table with the quality of their game,” Tite noted.