Faculty of health sciences and sport, Private university in Tokyo, Japan

Madrid, Aug 2 Hosts Japan will face Spain in the semifinals of the Olympic men's football competition on Tuesday, as both sides look to earn the chance to play for a gold medal.The Japanese defeated New Zealand in the quarterfinals, while Spain rode their luck before winning 5-2 after extra time against Cote d'Ivoire.Spain looked to be heading out of the tournament after Cote d'Ivoire went 2-1 ahead in injury-time, but a horrendous defensive mix-up allowed substitute Rafa Mir to equalise in the 93rd minute, reports Xinhua.A ridiculous handball then allowed Mikel Oyarzabal to put Spain ahead from the penalty spot in extra-time and two more goals from Rafa Mir sealed the win.The big forward's hat-trick should earn him a place in Luis de la Fuente's starting XI for the semifinals, with Marco Asensio dropping down to the bench.Right-back Oscar Gil is available once again after missing the quarterfinals through suspension, and he should also come back into the team for Jesus Vallejo, who was forced to play out of position to cover for him against Cote d'Ivoire.Finally, Dani Caballos continues to work hard to recover from the ankle injury he suffered against Egypt, and could be available from the bench if Spain are training in the second half."Ceballos is improving every day, we hope he will be able to train normally," commented Spanish coach De la Fuente in his pre-game press conference, in which he confirmed that Barca defender Oscar Mingueza would miss the rest of the tournament with a muscle problem.Spain and Japan drew 1-1 in a pre-tournament friendly, but the Spain coach insisted this time that things would be different."There are few similarities between the two matches," he said. "Back then we were in a preparation phase and not in our best physical shape. We have improved with each passing game and now we are a totally different team."Japan's main threat will be Real Madrid's Takefusa Kubo, who said he had been expecting to face Spain."Ever since the draw was made, I thought we would play them in the semifinals," he said after his side squeezed past New Zealand on penalties."I'm going to give 120 or 150 per cent to take my team to the final," assured Kubo.Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor

Faculty Of Health Sciences And SportFOLLOW

Faculty of health sciences and sport, Latest News

On the 76th anniversary of the nuclear bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima, the city has called to abandon the atomic deterrence. ...

The Biden administration has approved two missiles-related arms sales to Japan worth a combined $195 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced on Wednesday. ...

Equity benchmark indices witnessed profit taking in the last hour of trade on Thursday but closed mildly higher after a volatile session. ...

The Biden administration has approved two missiles-related arms sales to Japan worth a combined $195 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced on Wednesday. ...

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.8 jolted 120 km ENE of Hasaki, Japan at 20:33:32 GMT on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. ...

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.1 jolted 112 km east-northeast of Hasaki, Japan at 10.29 GMT on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said. ...

Equity benchmark indices scaled record new peaks on Tuesday with heavy buying in IT, FMCG and financial stocks. ...

Madrid, Aug 2 Hosts Japan will face Spain in the semifinals of the Olympic men's football competition on ... ...