Four-time winners Japan showed they are likely to becontenders again, dominating Vietnam at the Jiangning Sports Centre Stadium.
Saori Takarada scored a second-half hat-trick while herteammates Riko Ueki and Mizuka Sato netted a brace each after Jun Endo openedthe scoring in the third minute.
“I think the performance is in line with our expectations. Iam happy with the performance. The whole squad are on the same level, so Ichose the players with the best condition tonight. Both us and Australia nowhave three points, so the winner of the next match will have six points, whichwill be a very important match,” Japan coach Futoshi Ikeda was quotedas saying on the-afc.com
His Vietnamese counterpart Vu Ba Dong said hewas pleased with the performance of his players, because they battled avery strong Japan side to the end.
The Vietnamese players, mainly aged 17, learned a lot fromJapanese side, according to Dong.
With the big win, Japan ended the day atop Group B while Vietnam were rooted tothe bottom.
In another group A fixture, Australia beat the Republic ofKorea 2-0.
In the next round of games, Japan will play Australia onOctober 15 evening, while Vietnam face another difficult task against the Republicof Korea.-VNA