"Two-year-old" Japanese soccer wins 5-0 against Syria for the first time in the U23 Asian Cup

*This content was translated by AI.

The Japanese national soccer team, which played in the 2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup, won a great victory from the first match of the tournament. Japan has included the U-21 national team, not the U-23, in this tournament.

Japan, led by head coach Oiwa Ko, defeated Syria 5-0 in the first Group B match of the tournament at King Abdullah Sports City Hall Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on the 7th (Korea time).

Japan, which broke the balance with Yuto Ozeki (Kawasaki Frontale)'s first goal in the 10th minute of the first half, added multiple goals from Sato Ryunosuke (FC Tokyo) in the second half and consecutive goals from Sena Ishibashi (Shonan Belmare) and Yutaka Michiwaki (SK Beberon, Belgium) to win by five goals.

On this day, Japan was almost equal in ball possession with 50.9%-49.1%, but after overwhelming the opponent by 19-3 in the number of shots and 9-1 in the number of effective shots, it won by a landslide.

In particular, Japan's victory in the first game is a more remarkable result, given that it played as a U-21 national team rather than a U-23 national team. In fact, the Japanese national team, which participated in this competition, consists of all 23 players born in 2005-2007, of which eight are college students.

Japan is participating in this competition as a two-year-old national team to prepare for the 2028 Los Angeles (LA) Olympics, which will be held two years later. Japan even plans to play the men's soccer at the Aichi and Nagoya Asian Games in September, not the U-23 team, but the U-21 team. In both the Olympics and Asian Games, the age is limited to U-23 except for wild cards.

Players who will make up the U-21 national team this year can naturally become the mainstay of the U-23 national team two years after the Olympic qualifiers and finals are held. The plan is to strengthen the organization over two years, including this year's U-23 Asian Cup and Asian Games, and to expand the pool of athletes to prepare more thoroughly for the Olympics.

As the indicator of the number of shots 19-3 as well as the score of 5-0, Japan overwhelmed Syria and won the first game of the tournament. Japan is trying to win the title for the second time in a row following the 2024 Qatar Games. Two years ago, the competition also served as a preliminary round for the 2024 Paris Olympics, so the national team that fits the age of the competition came forward. In the 2022 Uzbekistan Games, when the two-year-old national team played, it also ranked third, and at that time, South Korea was completely defeated by Japan, two years younger, 0-3 in the quarterfinals.

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*This content was translated by AI.