AFC Asian Cup 2023: Takumi Minamino brace lifts Japan to comeback win over Vietnam

The Samurai Blue went a goal behind having scored first in the match.

Takumi Minamino scored twice as Japan fought back to hand Vietnam a 4-2 defeat at Al Thumama Stadium on Sunday as the four-time champions kicked off their AFC Asian Cup 2023 campaign in Group D with a hard-fought win.

Hajime Moriyasu’s side were made to work for the three points in their meeting with former Japan coach Philippe Troussier, whose team rattled the Samurai Blue before slipping to a loss delivered by Keito Nakamura’s curling strike and Ayase Ueda’s late fourth.

Minamino had put Japan in front in the 11th minute but goals from Nguyen Dinh Bac and Pham Tuan Hai gave Vietnam the lead before Minamino equalised in the 45th minute and Nakamura bent in his right foot strike five minutes later.

Substitute Ueda added Japan’s fourth with a deflected strike with four minutes remaining.

Stade de Reims winger Nakamura had been involved in Japan’s first attack of note, feeding the overlapping Hiroki Ito down the left flank to force the Vietnamese to concede the corner that yielded the game’s opening goal.

Goalkeeper Filip Nguyen flapped at Junya Ito’s set-piece delivery and, while Yukinari Sugawara’s low goalward strike had been blocked by the defence, Minamino calmly stroked home through a crowd of players to put Moriyasu’s side in front.

But Vietnam were level within five minutes, taking advantage of a corner of their own as Dinh Bac steered a looping header from Do Hung Dung’s centre high over the helpless Zion Suzuki, who could only watch the ball hit the back of the net.

And while Minamino pulled his shot wide from 20 yards halfway through the half, it was the Vietnamese who struck next.

Sugawara’s foul on Dinh Bac presented Phan Tuan Tai with the opportunity to thump the ball into the penalty area, delivering onto the head of Bui Hoang Viet Anh, who forced Suzuki to save before Pham Tuan Hai gleefully pounced to put Vietnam ahead.

The lead lasted only 12 minutes as Minamino struck again to equalise, coolly slotting past Nguyen after Wataru Endo’s incisive, quickly played ball into the Vietnam penalty area.

Junya Ito forced Nguyen into action deep into injury time while Minamino’s attempt moments later was blocked, but the Japanese reclaimed the lead soon after through a brilliant Nakamura strike, the winger bending a vicious shot into the top corner.

That goal snuffed out Vietnamese resistance and, after Hidemasa Morita and Minamino saw efforts saved by Nguyen in the second half, Moriyasu’s team put the seal on the win in the 86th minute when Ueda’s deflected effort crossed the line.

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