PLAYMAKER Jungo Fujimoto snatched victory for Japan U21s in the 85th minute at Springfield on Saturday night - their first victory in the Jersey International Football Tournament with the final score 3-2.
Bringing a belated smile to the face of an otherwise disgruntled head coach, Masahiro Inui, the wizardry of Fujimoto crafted a bending free kick from outside the box that looped over the wall, leaving substitute United ‘keeper Tom Lee rooted to the spot.
At the final whistle, coach Inui said, ‘Jungo made me very happy and he deserved that goal: he played well the whole game’.
The match was often tempestuous, partly because once United’s first half lead was overturned it added a different dimension to the game in the second half.
Japan were overjoyed with a victory against such a prestigious club, which, to them, was never just a game to see which side would avoid the tournament’s wooden spoon.
United took an early lead through a sliding lunge from clinical finisher, striker Sylvain Eubanks-Blake, who slotted home after 11 minutes.
Japan then drew level in the 23rd minute through a punching header amid penalty box confusion from forward Shinji Tsujio.
A 12-yard strike from Fujimoto before the break (40 mins) was followed by a messy opening 20 minutes of the second half.
Only after Eubanks-Blake’s second goal for United in the 83rd minute did the two teams again draw applause and gasps from the thousand-strong crowd.
The result could have gone either way, but with a foul on the edge of the United area Fujimoto punished United’s careless defending in style.
After the game Japan’s coach Inui said: ‘Because of the bad game against Celtic, the players concentrated hard.
Even though we conceded a goal inside the first ten minutes we fought back.
‘We had a good attitude and converted our chances.When asked his thoughts concerning the tournament as a whole, coach Inui said, ‘We have enjoyed Jersey very much, both on and off the field.
‘The tournament was well organised and the people have been very hospitable.
The spectators have been brilliant and we wish very much to come back.’ Teams: Japan: Taka Akahoshi, Kentoku Noborio, Tomonobu Hiroi, Takanobu Komiyama, Hideyuki Nakamura, Takuya Honda, Reiichi Ikegami, Shinji Tsujio, Jungo Fujimoto, Shingo Akamine, Kazuki Hara (Rui Komatasu).
Manchester United: Tom Heaton (Tom Lee), Floribert Ngalula, Ben Collett, Mark Howard, Paul Tierney, Richard Jones (Marcus Meumayr), David Fox (Cpt), Kenny Cooper (Ramon Calliste), Sylvain Eubank Blake, David Poole (Phil Picken) Colin Heath.
The match was sponsored by Paul Robertson and Amalgamated Facilities Management.
Article posted on 9th August, 2004 - 12.00am
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