Japan tops Asia 7s

Champions of Asia 7s

Japan capped off the inaugural BPI AIA Asia 7s as its inaugural champions, defeating India in the final, 3-2 on Sunday at the McKinley Hill Stadium in Taguig.

Shohei Agata found Takaharu Nakagawa for the game-winning goal in the 50th minute, his second of the game and eighth in the tournament.

Nakagawa had given Japan the lead just at the end of first half, but India managed to answer back a couple of minutes after the restart, as Clinton D'Souza found Johnson D'Silva for the equalizer.

Tomoya Sekina retook the lead at the half-hour mark, but India answered back as Mervin Stephen equalized against with just under ten minutes remaining.

Head Coach Keller Costa, who before the competition confidently expressed their title chances, would re-insert Agata in the final minutes with the role of being a pivot in the middle, setting up the winning heroics and an unblemished record.

Costa explains, "I know I said we’d win it, but you have to say it. Now you have to back up those words and I am glad the boys did. They worked hard for this."

In the third place game, the Philippines fended off an attempted Brunei comeback to secure a 6-3 victory.

MJ Libre ran wild for the hosts. scoring four goals in the first half as they scored the first five goals of the match.

Brunei would pull one back just before the first half, thanks to Khairul Amirin Mohammad.

Ulfi Aminuddin helped cut the deficit to 5-2, but they missed two penalty shots that could have cut the deficit further.

Libre would score his fifth goal five minutes from the end to make it 6-2, with an injury time strike from Ifmal Hakim completing the scoring in injury time.

Supporting the inaugural BPI AIA Asia 7s Football Championships are BPI AIA, TapGo TV, Blaze Athletics, Palaro, and the Mansion Sports Bar and Lounge.