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Asian Games gold medallists Japan scored a 5-0 victory over hosts Oman in the Hero Asian Champions Muscat Trophy 2018 at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex here.
Japan finished with five round-robin league matches with seven points while Oman lost all their league matches in the six-nation competition.
Japan, who will play defending champions India in the semi-finals, were kept at bay by the Oman defense until the 14th minute before Koji Yamasaki opened the scoring on Thursday night.
The Japanese showcased their dribbling and passing, but the next goal only came in the 33rd minute through Wataru Matsumoto. Five minutes later, Kazumasa Matsumoto shot on target to make it 3-0.
The last two goals came within the space of one minute. In the 45th minute, Hiromasa Ochiai first scored in open play Hirotaka Zendana converted a penalty corner.
Japan's coach Siegfried Aikman said finding a way through Oman's defense was not easy.
"It was a difficult match because Oman defended deep inside their own territory with their players in their 25-yard territory, finding solutions past the Oman defense was not easy," Aikman said.
"It's difficult for the players to keep track of their skills," he added.
Tahir Zaman, coach of the Oman team, said he had reduced his team to just 15 fit players.
"It's been a secret that we were down to 15 players, but a bigger problem than that was the strikers," Zaman said.
"To replace them, we had to defeat the team and defenders," he added.
Oman will meet South Korea in a play-off for the fifth and sixth positions on Saturday.
–IANS
ajb / mr
(This story has been edited by Business Standard staff and is self-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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