East Asian Games - Soccer, Day 1

Japan got things going today as they opened the East Asian Games against Chinese Taipei. Japan is favored to win the gold and they showed way by slaughtering Taipei 6-1. Japan was up by 2 at the half and then exploded during the second 45.

Scorers for the wining side were Shingo Akamine, Shingo Hyodo, Shinji Tsujio, Jungo Fujimoto and Rui Komatsu who scored twice in three minutes. The one goal for the losers was knocked in on a long shot from Lin Kueipin.

Since there are only three teams in Group A, Japan has all but assured their spot in the semi-finals. They have one more group game against South Korea on 2 November. Chinese Taipei will play South Korea on Monday (31 Oct). Taipei will have to win if they want any chance of moving on to the knockout stage.

Group B gets underway on Sunday when North Korea plays Hong Kong and Chinese Macau takes on China.