Japan's Daichi Kamada controls the ball in the second half against the United States in an international friendly on September 9, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio. (KYODO)
Alejandro Zendejas scored in the 30th minute and teammate Folarin Balogun doubled the lead in the 64th minute for the United States men's soccer team against Japan on Tuesday, September 9.
In Columbus, Ohio, Team USA won the international friendly 2-0, picking up its first victory over a top-20-ranked team since it beat Iran 1-0 at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Japan entered Tuesday's match as the world's 17th-ranked club, with the US occupying the 15th spot on the chart.
Samurai Blue manager Hajime Moriyasu started a completely different squad than he penciled into the lineup for Japan's September 6 friendly against Mexico in Oakland, California. That match ended in a scoreless draw. (On the same day, South Korea topped the US 2-0 in Harrison, New Jersey, in a friendly.)
Moriyasu made wholesale lineup changes to give younger members of the national team increased playing time ― valuable experience on the international stage.
Established veterans Daichi Kamada, Takumi Minamino and Kaoru Mitoma entered the match as substitutes in the 62nd minute.
Against the Americans, Koki Ogawa, who plays professionally for Dutch club NEC Nijmegen, had perhaps Japan's best scoring chance, blasting a shot off the crossbar in the 70th minute.
The US outshot Japan 19-11 and held an 11-6 edge in shots on goal.
Japan was assessed 13 offside infractions, while the hosts had eight.
Comments After Japan-US Soccer Friendly
How did Moriyasu react to Japan's 2-0 loss in Ohio?
"I'm sorry for so many Japanese fans who came over to support, and those who cheered us on in the morning back home," Moriyasu said, according to Kyodo News. "We had some chances, but we'll work to up our quality in front of goal."
Yuto Nagatomo, an FC Tokyo defender who served as Japan's captain for the match, said the team didn't perform up to its expectations.
"Since we've set winning the World Cup as our goal, everyone must compete at the same level, and I felt anew that I personally must also outplay my opponents," Nagatomo stated after the match, according to NHK.
Ogawa also reflected on Japan's performance after the defeat.
"It's a truly frustrating result — the team lost, and as a striker, I couldn't score either," Ogawa was quoted as saying by NHK. "That first goal weighed heavily on us, causing our defense and pressing from the front to lose its rhythm."
Ogawa then said, "I'll return to my club team to further hone my scoring ability, which is my strength, and come back to the national team."
US Manager Pochettino Reacts to Team's Victory
After the game ended, Team USA manager Mauricio Pochettino was in an upbeat mood and outlined the significance of securing a win against Japan.
"It is important for us to keep pushing and improving," the Argentine boss said, according to NBC Sports. "We really believe in the process, we believe in the plan. The important thing is we are not talking only about winning games, because [it] is obvious that we want to win.
"But the important part is to be focusing on how we need to build our way to approach the games, how we need to attack in every single period during the game, [and] that we need to be strong together."
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Baseball
Hanshin Clinches Central League Title
The Hanshin Tigers have been the top team in NPB's Central League throughout the 2025 season.
And first-year manager Kyuji Fujikawa's club made it official by winning the CL pennant on Sunday, September 7. The Tigers blanked the visiting Hiroshima Carp 2-0 at Koshien Stadium to secure the regular-season title and the top seed for the Central League Climax Series.
In doing so, the Tigers rewrote a record, winning the CL pennant at the earliest date ever. The previous mark was held by the Yomiuri Giants, winners of the CL pennant in 1990, which they clinched that year on September 8.
You can boil down the essence of Hanshin's exceptional play this season to two important statistics: runs scored and runs allowed (through September 7). In the first category, the Tigers are No 1 (437 runs) among CL teams and in the second they are also first (296 runs).
Hanshin took a 78-46-3 record, best among NPB's 12 teams, into its home game against the Yokohama DeNA BayStars on Wednesday, September 10.
Fujikawa believes the Tigers have capitalized on hard work and smart tactics to plant the seeds for success this season.
"No one can really tell what our strength is, and there lies our real strength," Fujikawa said, according to Kyodo News. "The players have coordinated with coaches behind the scenes to get each out and helped us win games that might have looked unglamorous."
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Tennis
Osaka Climbs to 14th in World Rankings
Naomi Osaka, who played in the US Open women's singles semifinals on September 4, has continued her ascension in the world rankings.
The former world No 1 climbed from 24th to 14th in the latest rankings, which were released on Monday, September 8.
In addition to reaching the final four at the US Open, the final Grand Slam tournament on the annual tennis calendar, Osaka was the runner-up at the National Bank Open in Montreal in early August.
Before her exit from the US Open, Osaka had generated widespread publicity about her spirited title quest. Earlier in her career, Osaka captured a pair of titles at the prestigious event in New York (2018 and 2020).
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Volleyball
Japan Men Set for World Championship Opener
On Saturday, September 13, the Japan national team faces Turkey in the teams' Group G preliminary phase opener at the 2025 FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship in Manila.
The 24-nation tournament runs through September 28 in the Philippines.
Japan is ranked No 5 in the world, while Turkey is 16th. Also in Group G are No 11 Canada and 75th-ranked Libya.
The top four teams in the world rankings are No 1 Poland, followed by reigning world champion Italy, Brazil and France.
At the 2022 Men's Volleyball World Championship, Japan finished 12th. The squad's best-ever results were a pair of bronze medals (1970 and '74).
Japan finished seventh at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In the run-up to the upcoming global event in the Philippines, coach Laurent Tillie's squad was eliminated in the quarterfinals, losing in straight sets to Poland on July 31 in Ningbo, China.
Figure Skating
Japanese Skaters Continue to Shine on JGP Circuit
Taiga Nishino won the men's event and Sumika Kanazawa triumphed in the women's competition at the recent Junior Grand Prix Varese, which was held in Varese, Italy.
Nishino topped the standings with 232.50 points to claim the title on Saturday, September 6. He was in second place after the short program.
"Since last year, I have reviewed my training from scratch and made improvements, which has enabled me to achieve good results like in this competition," Nishino said after capturing the gold. "I would like to continue doing so."
South Korea's Habin Choi earned the silver medal with 232.19 points, and Japan's Shun Uemura, 16, took home the bronze with 212.55.
Kanazawa, 13, was in first place after the short program and then finished third in the free skate. Her strong performance in the short program helped carry her to the JGP title, completing the two-day event with 185.77 points.
"This was my first Junior Grand Prix, so I was sure I would be nervous," Kanazawa told reporters. "I came out with the goal of just having fun, so I'm really happy to have won."
South Korea's Seojin Youn and China's Yihan Wang were second and third, respectively, with 183.97 and 181.21.
For Japan, Kaoruko Wada sat in sixth place after the short program, and she nearly pulled ahead of Wang to grab the bronze thanks to her stellar free skate (second overall in points). Wada ended the competition with 180.83 points.
JGP Skating at a Glance
Japan's Rio Nakata won the season-opening JGP Latvia men's event in August.
In the following meet before the calendar flipped to September, Sena Takahashi was the men's runner-up in Turkey.
Prior to Kanazawa's first-place showing in Italy, Japanese women had topped the points chart in Latvia (Mei Okada) and Turkey (Mayuko Oka).
The fourth of seven JGP competitions is being held September 9-13 in Bangkok. Also, on the calendar is the Junior Grand Prix Final, December 4-7, in Nagoya.
Author: Ed Odeven
Find Ed on JAPAN Forward's dedicated website, SportsLook. Follow his [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and X (formerly Twitter) ＠ed_odeven.
