Japan breeze past TT hockeymen 5-1

Japan (No.16 in the world) showed why they are 17 spots above TT in the world rankings as they dominated from start to finish. It took the visitors only six minutes to get on the scoresheet through Fukuda`s smart finish.

TT had some chances to equalise but were denied by Japan`s goalkeeper Suguru Shimmoto. They also squandered the two penalty corners awarded in that quarter.

Kazuma Murata penetrated TT `s defence and rounded goalkeeper Kwasi Emmanuel, who was starting in his first game, then slipped it to Fukuda to score and give them a 2-0 lead.

Then, on the stroke of halftime, the tournament` s leading goalscorer Kenta Tanaka got his sixth of the campaign as he dribbled past two defenders and calmly guided it out of the reach of the diving Emmanuel for the 3-0 halftime lead.

TT started the last quarter with a lot more urgency and were rewarded with a goal from Tariq Marcano who redirected a Kwan Browne shot from a penalty corner in the 49th minute.

But, three minutes later, TT `s Browne had a goal-line clearance but it touched his body resulting in a penalty for the Japanese. Shota Yamada stepped up and sent Emmanuel the wrong way extending their lead to 4-1.

With TT pressing for another goal they got caught off-guard and on the counterattack, Heita Yoshihara chipped an onrushing Emmanuel which rebounded off the post but Kaito Tanaka was in the right spot to easily slap it home in the 58th minute.

TT will now face 29th ranked USA in the quarter-final today at 8pm. The host nation will be confident as they recently had a 1-0 victory against them in the warm-up matches of this tournament as well as a 3-1 victory in the third place match at the Pan American Cup, Brampton, Canada in 2013.