Congratulations Nippon, best of luck for rest of cup
Nippon took on 1TM Latini at the burning SAS, kick off 1400. It was surely one of the hottest time to play a football match and everyone expected a tough game. Nippon entered the game with a formation of 4-4-2. The game plan for the first half was to possess the ball as much as we can and move it at our pace. The Japanese team followed the plan quite fell and controlled the game. 10 min in the first half, the centre defender, Taku fired a super long shot from the halfway line which luckily got the tailwind and found back of the net. 1-0. Soon after, Seiji received a brilliant through pass from Hagi and calmly slotted it into the left side net. 2-0. After the water break, from a corner kick, Ochi beamed a header from the near side post and scored the 3rd goal. 3-0. In the half time, Coach Tom made slight changes and sent Masuda to the forward. Latini started the 2nd half in a different momentum and made some early opportunities, but Nippon defenders reacted well and managed to protect. Instead, from a free kick, Taku scored his 2nd goal with a beautiful curly shot. 4-0. This goal fueled the team and Nippon made many opportunuties but couldn't score. Latini tried hard to push back and scored a goal from good passwork. 4-1. This goal gave power to the Latini, but today, Nippon was different. The speedstar Kotaro received a gentle pass from Ryusei just in front of the penalty zone and fired his curely shot which was touched by the keeper but found back of the net. 5-1. The next goal was borne by Hagi who dribbled into the vital area and delivered an accurate pass to Masuda who wipped it into the goal from the near side. 6-1. Final goal was supported by Ryuhei who found Hagi behind the defender line and provided a velvet pass. Hagi won the 1vs1 with the keeper and made it 7-1. During the second half, Latini unfortunately lost a player due to an injury and this allowed Nippon to control the ball well. The team calmly wrapped up the game and it managed to win against Latini. Great victory and we look forward to play the next stage game in the cup.