Captain Ritsu Doan guides Japan to Kirin Cup glory in Tokyo
| Koji Watanabe/Getty Images |
Ritsu Doan was the hero as Japan won the friendly tournament Kirin Cup in front of their home fans. The 28-year-old Eintracht Frankfurt winger led by example as he scored the winner against New Zealand in the final.
In addition to the captain, Hiroki Ito (Bayern), Kaishu Sano (Mainz), Kento Shiogai (Wolfsburg), Satoshi Tanaka (Schalke), Yuito Suzuki and Keisuke Goto (both Freiburg) were part of Japan’s winning squad in the four-team tournament.
French-based strikers Ayase Ueda (Lille) and Ben Old (Saint-Étienne) scored on either side in the first-half before Doan’s winner twenty minutes before time. Both teams needed penalty shootouts in their semi-final victories over Ecuador and Panama, respectively.
Japan invite teams to their friendly tournament with the help of the Kirin Brewery Company. Until the 1992 edition, clubs usually participated in the competition as Borussia Mönchengladbach and Palmeiras won the inaugural tournament back in 1978.
Werder Bremen also won it twice in 1982 and 1986 as it was hosted annually uninterrupted for the first 11 years. This is only the third Kirin Cup after Japan, the Czech Republic and Peru contested it in 2012. The hosts lost the final of the previous two editions, which were staged in 2016 and 2022.
