Son Heung-min bounced back from the disappointment of exiting the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023™ to Jordan in the semi-finals by coming off the bench to assist Brennan Johnson’s 96th-minute winner against Brighton & Hove Albion as Tottenham moved into fourth place in the Premier League.
Australian duo Tete Yengi and Aiden O’Neill were on the scoresheet in Scotland and Belgium respectively, while Japan’s Koki Ogawa netted for the second week running as NEC Nijmegen reached the KNVB Cup semi-finals in the Netherlands, so join the-AFC.com as we find out how the Asian stars performed in Europe over the past week.
England: Hasegawa takes City past Spurs
Japanese midfielder Yui Hasegawa scored the only goal of the game as Manchester City edged Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 on Wednesday to reach the semi-finals of the Women’s League Cup where they will face Chelsea, for whom Japanese youngster Maika Hamano made her first start in a 5-0 win against Sunderland in the quarter-final.
Hasegawa, Mary Fowler and Alanna Kennedy were also in action as City edged an Arsenal side featuring Caitlin Foord, Kyra Cooney-Cross and Steph Catley 1-0 in the fifth round of the Women’s FA Cup on Sunday while Fuka Nagano started in Liverpool’s midfield as they overcame London City Lionesses 2-0.
Saori Takarada bagged her first goal for Leicester City after signing from Sweden’s Linkoping and also supplied an assist as the Foxes beat Birmingham City 6-2 to advance to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup while Matildas midfielder Clare Wheeler’s Everton posted a resounding 7-1 win against Nottingham Forest.
Son Heung-min returned to Premier League action after Korea Republic’s exit from the AFC Asian Cup, with the Tottenham captain coming off the bench to provide the assist for Brennan Johnson’s last–gasp winner as Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs edged a Brighton team featuring Kaoru Mitoma 2-1 on Saturday.
Elsewhere, Japan captain Wataru Endo started Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Burnley as the Reds remained top of the standings.
Scotland: Yengi hits last-minute winner
Australian forward Tete Yengi scored in the last minute of extra time as Livingston edged Partick Thistle 3-2 on Saturday to enter the next round of the Scottish Cup. This is the 23-year-old’s second goal for the club after signing from English side Ipswich Town last month.
In the quarter-finals, they will face defending champions Celtic for whom Kyogo Furuhashi opened the scoring in the 15th minute and Daizen Maeda doubled the lead in the second half as they defeated St Mirren 2-0 on Sunday.
Australian midfielder Calem Nieuwenhof was on target while Kyosuke Tagawa, Kye Rowles and Nathaniel Atkinson were involved as substitutes as Hearts posted a 4-1 win against second division side Airdrieonians. Another Socceroos star, Martin Boyle, scored and bagged an assist as Hibernian overcame Inverness CT 3-1 in the fifth round.
China PR midfielder Shen Mengyu’s cross was headed in by Caitlin Hayes while her compatriot Shen Menglu also started for Celtic as they defeated Hibernian 3-1 in the Scottish women’s top division on Sunday. The duo also made appearances off the bench in the 2-0 win over Motherwell a few days earlier as they trail leaders Rangers by four points.
Netherlands: Ogawa scores in cup win
Koki Ogawa scored for the second game in a row as NEC Nijmegen defeated ADO Den Haag 3-0 on Tuesday to reach the semi-finals of the KNVB Cup where they will face second division outfit Cambuur later this month. Feyenoord also reached the semis with Ayase Ueda coming on as a substitute in a 2-0 win against AZ Alkmaar.
In the Eredivisie, Australia’s Ajdin Hrustic made his Heracles Almelo debut as a starter in their 3-2 win against Vitesse on Saturday. Iraq’s Hussein Ali made a substitute appearance as Heerenveen posted a 3-2 win against Ajax while another Iraqi, Zidane Iqbal, started Utrecht’s 4-0 win against Fortuna Sittard on Sunday.
Belgium: O’Neill strike proves crucial
A 19th-minute stunner from Aiden O’Neill proved to be the difference between the two sides as Standard Liege, also featuring Hayao Kawabe, edged Suphanat Mueanta’s OH Leuven 1-0 in the Belgian Pro League on Saturday. This was the Australian defensive midfielder’s first goal for the club since joining from Melbourne City last July.
In the Belgian Cup, Koki Machida scored in the 92nd minute as Union SG suffered a 2-1 defeat to Shion Homma’s Club Brugge in the first leg of the semi-final on Wednesday while the 26-year-old defender also started his side’s 2-2 draw with Jordan Bos’ Westerlo in the league on Saturday.
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