Saitama ¨C An early burst of scoring gave Japan an emphatic 2-1 victory over Mexico in the Tokyo 2020 men¡¯s soccer tournament on Sunday night at Saitama Stadium, giving the host nation control of its own fate heading into Wednesday¡¯s final Group A game against France.
Japan head coach Hajime Moriyasu made just one change to the starting lineup that narrowly beat South Africa 1-0 on Thursday ¡ª swapping Royal Antwerp midfielder Koji Miyoshi out for Nagoya Grampus¡¯ Yuki Soma ¡ª while Mexico¡¯s Jaime Lozano kept intact the squad that dominated France.
¡°We were able to remain focused, we weren¡¯t distracted at all and we were able to use those two days to recuperate as well as focus on what we had to train for,¡± Moriyasu said. ¡°The players were calm and didn¡¯t forget that they needed to challenge themselves. I think we were able to play aggressively, patiently and smartly from the very beginning.¡±
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