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Japan beats China 2-0 with Korea up in final EAFF match

Published: 13 Jul. 2025, 12:31

Lee Ho-jae of Korea celebrates after scoring a goal during the East Asian Football Federation E-1 Football Championship game against Hong Kong on July 11. [YONHAP]

The defending champions Japan defeated China 2-0 on Saturday for their second straight win at the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Football Championship, with host nation Korea coming up as their final opponent next week.

Mao Hosoya and Henry Heroki Mochizuki scored a goal each for the winning side at Yongin Mireu Stadium in Yongin, Gyeonggi.

Japan and Korea each have six points, with Japan holding the edge in goal difference by two. These two rivals will square off at 7:24 p.m. Tuesday at Yongin Mireu Stadium with the tournament title on the line.

This is the 10th edition of the top EAFF tournament, and Korea, having defeated China 3-0 and then Hong Kong 2-0, are going for their sixth title. Japan are chasing their third.

The EAFF event isn't on FIFA's international match calendar, and thus clubs weren't obliged to release players. Both Korea and Japan have several national team mainstays based in Europe, but did not select any of them for this event. The entire 26-man Japanese squad is made up of players in J1 League, while Korea have three players from the Japanese league and 23 from the domestic K League system.

Six Korean players made their international debuts against China on Monday, and six more did so against Hong Kong on Friday.

Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo has experimented with the back-three formation in each of the first two matches and is expected to stick to it against Japan over the more conventional back-four system.

Korea have 42 wins, 23 draws and 16 losses against Japan, but have four victories in their past 11 matches, dating back to 2010.

Yonhap