Kirin Cup 2016: Schmeichel's Denmark falters; Okazaki's Japan soars

For the first time in five years, the annual Kirin Cup in Japan resumed on Friday. Tournament history was made as the first four-team field took part in the semifinal rounds.

Denmark, led by goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, lost to Bosnia & Herzegovina on penalties. Japan, meanwhile, dismantled Bulgaria by a final score of 7-2.

In game one of two, Schmeichel and Denmark came out flying, taking a 2-0 lead into halftime. Despite going down to ten men midway through the second half, Bosnia persevered, grabbing an equalizer in the final ten minutes to force penalties.

In the shootout, Schmeichel denied the first shooter, but came up empty as Bosnia slotted four straight past the Leicester keeper to advance to the final.

Japan took the field next against Bulgaria, and it was Leicester's Shinji Okazaki who opened the scoring just three minutes into the match. Yosuke Kashiwagi sent in a cross to a wide-open Okazaki who made no mistake to head it into the net.

Okazaki only played 45 minutes in this one as Japan held a comfortable 4-0 lead at halftime.

Japan will advance to the finals to take on Bosnia while Denmark will look to get a positive result from the tournament in the third place match. Both are scheduled for June 7.