Newcastle United striker Yoshinori Muto scored a brilliant header in Japan’s win over Uzbekistan today – making it one goal in one start for him at the Asian Cup.
Both Muto and Ki (South Korea) have been away this month on international duty and, although Ki’s tournament has been blighted by a hamstring injury so far, the Japanese forward has made an immediate impact.
He was an unused substitute in their opening group game with Turkmenistan and came on from the bench in their win over Oman on Sunday, but scored this header on his first start of the tournament today to make it 1-1 vs Uzbekistan:
Japan went on to win the game 2-1, leaving them at the top of group F – and putting the Newcastle striker in with a good shout of keeping his place in their starting line up.
Muto has failed to get any sort of run in the side following his £9.5m move from Mainz over the summer, but he’s showed flashes, scoring twice at Man Utd and showing promising pace and energy in attack.
