NEWS

Japan fell 3-1 to Korea Republic in their third and final match of the East Asian Championship at the National Stadium in Tokyo on Sunday. Both teams ended the match with 10 men.

With the result, Japan finished the tournament in third place with four points from a 1-1-1 win-draw-loss record.
China won the biannual tournament for the first time since 2005 with seven points from a 2-1-0 record, followed by Korea Republic with six points (2-0-1). Hong Kong finished fourth with no points after losing all three matches.
Following a 0-0 draw with China in their first match and a 3-0 win over Hong Kong – plus China’s 2-0 win over Hong Kong earlier on Sunday – Japan needed to beat Korea Republic by more than two goals to win the East Asian title.
The Japanese players appeared sharper than in their previous two matches and their passing game put early pressure on the Koreans.
In the 22nd minute, Marcus Tulio Tanaka was brought down by Kang Min Soo in the box  and Yasuhito Endo dispatched the spot kick to give the Samurai Blue a 1-0 lead.
But the hosts faced tough resistance from the Koreans, who attacked with pace and played with aggression.
Korea drew level on a penalty after Kim Bo Kyung was fouled by Atsuto Uchida in the 32nd minute. Lee Dong Gook wrong-footed Japan goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki with his kick and the scores were level at 1-1.
Six minutes later, Korea went ahead when Lee Seung Yeoul's long-range shot deflected off the back of Japan defender Yuji Nakazawa and looped over Narazaki into the net.
Japan's situation became even worse in the 41st minute when Tulio was handed a red card after tussling with Kang.
At halftime, Japan coach Takeshi Okada brought on Kashima Antlers defender Daiki Iwamasa to bolster his backline.
Japan had a scare soon after when Korea forward Lee Dong Gook hit the woodwork with a powerful left-foot shot.
But the Koreans were also reduced to 10 men after midfielder Kim Jung Woo received his second booking of the day in the 52nd minute.
Korea made it 3-1 in the 70th minute on a fast penetrating move, with Kim Jae Sung curling in a fine shot from the edge of the box.
Korea Republic coach Huh Jung Moo commented, “We studied Japan’s game thoroughly and our players did very well based on our study.”
“It was a pity that we couldn’t win the tournament, which was our aim, but we are still in the process of preparing for the World Cup.”
Japan coach Takeshi Okada said, “I am sorry that we couldn’t win at home. Our players were better in some parts of their game, such as tempo, but they seemed to be obsessed with the ideas of connecting with each other too much and gave up the ball, which resulted in two goals.”
Commenting on his team's preparations in the last few weeks, Okada said: “Our players have worked with high motivation and fought to the very end today, which I’m happy about.”
“We couldn’t get a good result, but this could turn out to be beneficial for us as we can look at ourselves again and make good preparations for the World Cup.”
China defender Du Wei was named the MVP of the tournament, while Japan forward Keiji Tamada, China forward Qu Bo, and Korea Republic’s Lee Dong Gook and Lee Seung Yeoul finished as joint top goal-scorers with two goals each.

Teams
Japan—Seigo Narazaki, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Yuto Nagatomo, Atsuto Uchida, Yuji Nakazawa, Yasuhito Endo, Junichi Inamoto, Kengo Nakamura, Yoshito Okubo (Shinji Kagawa, 26thDaiki Iwamasa, ht*), Shinji Okazaki, Keiji Tamada (Hisato Sato, 82nd). Coach, Takeshi Okada
Subs who did not play—Eiji Kawashima, Shusaku Nishikawa, Yuichi Komano, Yasuyuki Konno, Yuhei Tokunaga, Yuki Abe, Mitsuo Ogasawara, Mu Kanazaki, Sota Hirayama.
Korea Republic—Lee Woon Jae, Oh Beom Seok, Kang Min Soo, Cho Yong Hyung, Park Joo Ho, Kim Jae Sung, Kim Jung Woo, Kim Bo Kyung (Oh Jang Eun, 87th), Shin Hyung Min, Lee Seung Yeoul (Koo Ja Cheol, 56th), Lee Dong Gook (Lee Keun Ho, 62nd). Coach, Huh Jung Moo
Subs who did not play—Jung Sung Ryong, Kim Yong Kwang, Kwak Tae Hwi, Lee Kyu Ro, Kim Hung Il, Kim Do Heon, Lee Sung Hyun, No Byung Jun.
Goals—Yasuhito Endo (Japan, 23rd pen), Lee Dong Gook (Korea Republic, 33rd pen), Lee Seung Yeoul (Korea Republic, 39th), Kim Jae Sung (Korea Republic, 70th)
Cautions—Junichi Inamoto (Japan, 14th), Kim Jung Woo (Korea Republic, 21st), Kang Min Soo (Korea Republic, 22nd), Kim Bo Kyung (Korea Republic, 29th), Kim Jung Woo (Korea Republic, 52ndred-card)
Expulsions—Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Japan, 41st), Kim Jung Woo (Korea Republic, 52nd)
Attendance—42,951
Referee—Strebre Delovski (Australia)