Pune: Japanese Powerhouse showed off their extraordinary technical advantages when they got an easy 5-0 victory over Myanmar to start the defense of their AFC Asian Cup title in the style here on Friday.
Japan had to wait until the 22nd minute to lead but once they did that, no one stopped the champions twice, who played with their opponents in Group C match in favor of the Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex.
Riko Ueki gave Japan a temporary advantage of strikes at the start of the second half of Yui Hasegawa and Hikaru Naomoto provided the 2011 World Cup runner with a comfortable bearing.
Substitute Yui Narumiya crashed into the fourth before Hasegawa sealed victory during injury time.
Japan showed a wide gap in the class between the 13th and 47th team of the opening whistle.
Malang Myanmar must survive in their own half with almost no attacks moving throughout the match.
Goalkeeper Nwe May Zin is the busiest Myanmar player and his party will lose a larger margin but to save various of him.
Yui Hasegawa doubled the tin two minutes after restarting because Japanese quality began to show.
Hinata’s search Miyazawa deftly directed to the Hasegawa line by UKI and West Ham United Slotted Ball Home midfielder.
The 24-year-old almost added a third soon after, only for NWE to end his drive acrobatically into the crossbar, but there was a little goalkeeper who could be done in the 53rd minute when Naomoto’s substitute curled up with a free kick to the wall.
Japanese third score.
Fuka Nagano also hit the bar from a distance and Nwe continued to frustrate Japanese attacks until Narumiya claimed the fourth 19 minutes of time, scoring a goal from the edge of the area just a few seconds after stepping out of the bench.
Hasegawa then limited the performance of the star when he instinctively cut the ball above Nwe in a time of injury as he got out of the line.
Japan Play Vietnam in their second group match here on Monday, while Myanmar faces the next Korea.
Asian Cup: Japan opened a defense title in style with a 5-0 victory over Myanmar
