Vietnam lost 8-0 to Japan in their first match of Group B at the Asian Football Confederation U19 Women’s Championship on October 16 in Nanjing, China.

Four-time winners Japan showed they are likely to be contenders again, dominating Vietnam at the Jiangning Sports Centre Stadium. 

Saori Takarada scored a second-half hat-trick while her teammates Riko Ueki and Mizuka Sato netted a brace each after Jun Endo opened the scoring in the third minute.

“I think the performance is in line with our expectations. I am happy with the performance. The whole squad are on the same level, so I chose the players with the best condition tonight. Both us and Australia now have three points, so the winner of the next match will have six points, which will be a very important match,” Japan coach Futoshi Ikeda was quoted as saying on the-afc.com

His Vietnamese counterpart Vu Ba Dong said he was pleased with the performance of his players, because they battled a very strong Japan side to the end.

The Vietnamese players, mainly aged 17, learned a lot from Japanese side, according to Dong.

With the big win, Japan ended the day atop Group B while Vietnam were rooted to the bottom.

In another group A fixture, Australia beat the Republic of Korea (ROK) 2-0.

In the next round of games, Japan will play Australia on October 19 evening, while Vietnam face another difficult task against the ROK.

VNS