Victory for Koga and Hamano in Asian Cup opener

Tōko Koga and Maika Hamano’s Japan began their Women’s Asian Cup campaign with a 2-0 win over Chinese Taipei in Australia in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Forward Maika started and completed 64 minutes for her nation before making way for Kiko Seike, while defender Toko was an unused substitute in their opening game of the competition.

The two goals came in the second half as Momoko Tanikawa opened the scoring just after the hour mark before Seike secured the victory in the first minute of stoppage time, giving their nation the ideal start in Group C.

Japan next face India on Saturday (7 March) with kick-off at 11am UK time.