Kirin Cup 2016: Okazaki's Japan falls short; Schmeichel blanks Bulgaria

The final matches of the 2016 Kirin Cup in Japan were played on Tuesday morning in Suita. Denmark, led by goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, blanked Bulgaria in the third place game, 4-0. In the championship, Bosnia and Herzegovina captured a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Shinji Okazaki and the host nation Japan.

In game one, Denmark opened the scoring in the 39th minute as Morten Rasmussen slotted one past Bulgarian keeper Bozhidar Mitrev. In the second half, Christian Eriksen scored three times in a span of ten minutes to put the game out of reach. Schmeichel went relatively untested, keeping a clean sheet in the victory.

In between matches, the Danish keeper met up with fellow Fox, Japanese striker Shinji Okazaki. The two engaged in a hug and had a brief talk before Japan took the field for warm-ups.

In the tournament final, Japan jumped out to a first-half lead as Hiroshi Kiyotake fired a shot past the Bosnia keeper. An immediate response from Bosnia, in the form of a Milan Djuric equalizer, put the teams on level terms. Djuric would score his second brace in as many matches with a second half winner to power Bosnia.

Shinji Okazaki started and played the full 90 minutes for Japan. He was frustrated all day by the comact Bosnia defense.