Japan earned a 2-0 win over Ghana in the KIRIN CHALLENGE CUP 2025 on Friday, thanks to a goal in each half from Takumi Minamino and Ritsu Doan.
Former Cerezo Osaka star Minamino opened the scoring after 16 minutes at Toyota Stadium, taking a touch and sweeping the ball past Ghana goalkeeper Joseph Anang after Kaishu Sano had played him in just inside the penalty area.
The visitors responded well to falling behind and went close to striking back 10 minutes later, but ex-Shonan Bellmare defender Junnosuke Suzuki did just enough to prevent Brandon Thomas-Asante from making a telling connection after Derrick Kohn’s teasing ball into the box from the left.
Jonas Adjetey then went close from the resultant corner, flicking just wide after Kohn had fired an effort goalwards from outside the area.
Japan protected their lead into the interval though, and came out looking for a second goal at the start of the second half.
First, former Kashima Antlers striker Ayase Ueda fired over after being found by Doan in the 49th minute, then Sano, also previously of Kashima, saw a stinging shot from outside the area tipped over the bar by Anang 10 minutes later.
Doan, once of Gamba Osaka, did then give the crowd of 40,030 something else to celebrate after an hour, jinking inside on the right-hand side of the penalty area before lashing a shot in at the near post.
Ghana again looked to strike back quickly after conceding and went close to halving the deficit in the 64th minute, but after Prince Owusu cushioned the ball into Kamaldeen Sulemana’s path Tomoki Hayakawa, of 2025 MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE side Kashima, was equal to his strike from outside the area, getting his body behind the ball and then smothering the rebound.
From that point on Japan assumed control of proceedings as both teams made full use of their six available substitutions, which included Samurai Blue manager Hajime Moriyasu giving debuts to ex-C-Osaka forward Sota Kitano and former Jubilo Iwata striker Keisuke Goto.
Japan almost found the net again on a couple of occasions - former G-Osaka winger Keito Nakamura curling a right-footed shot just past the far post by in the 69th minute and ex-Yokohama F･Marinos midfielder Joel Chima Fujita sending an effort from distance whistling just off target four minutes later - but ultimately neither side could add to the scoring and the game finished 2-0.
Next up for Japan is a test against South American opposition, when they take on Bolivia in Tokyo on Tuesday.
