Pathum Thani: Japan remained on track to win the AFC U17 Asian Cup™ Thailand 2023 after emerging 3-0 victors against Islamic Republic of Iran in their semi-final on Thursday.The three-time AFC U-16 Championship winners advanced to the final with an accomplished performance at the Thammasat Stadium to overcome a tough Iranian side.
It was the Iranians who made the initial attacking forays but their opponents were soon able to impose themselves and started to stroke the ball around. The most prolific side of the tournament, Japan took their tally to 17 goals in five matches in the 10th minute with the first shot on target from either side. A patient build-up led to winger Gakuto Kawamura beating Esmaeil Gholizadeh on the left and putting in a low cross that was met by Ryunosuke Yada, who capped his late run with a left-footed first-time finish from 15 yards.
Iran struggled to respond and were unable to capitalise even when presented with a gift on 21 minutes. Goalkeeper Wataru Goto scuffed a clearance straight at Kasra Taheri, but the forward somehow fired wide from close range under pressure from a desperately recovering Goto. The punishment from Japan arrived four minutes later. Ryunosuke Sato’s low drive was repelled by custodian Arsha Shakouri but the second ball was sent right back into the mixer, where Kohei Mochizuki (pictured below, No 8) was on hand to slam in his fourth goal of the tournament.
Near the half-hour mark, Mochizuki – who has netted in each of his three matches – curled the ball not far over the top right corner from 20 yards. Amid an increasingly heavy downpour, Goto further redeemed himself with a smart stop off Reza Ghandi Pour’s snapshot as Iran’s hopes of getting back into the game slipped further away.
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The Central Asians sought an early goal after the restart and nearly got it as Mahan Sadeghi headed a cross over. Proceedings then came to a temporary halt at the 54th minute due to inclement weather and resumed after around 10 minutes. Goto then comfortably stopped Taheri’s strike from a difficult angle, while Shakouri did likewise with Kawamura’s effort at the other end on the hour mark.
No team has reached more finals than Japan and their progress to a fifth was sealed in the 74th minute through Ryunosuke Sato’s low free-kick, which whistled into the bottom left corner from 20 yards. Japan will now face Korea Republic, who defeated Uzbekistan 1-0 in the other semi-final, at the Pathum Thani Stadium on Sunday.
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