Match report: Albion round off Japan tour with win over Tokyo Verdy

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Goals from van Hecke, Minteh, Adingra and Sarmiento seal the win.

2024-07-28T12:25+01:00

Jan Paul van Hecke scored his first goal for Albion in the win over Tokyo Verdy.

Albion completed their pre-season tour of Japan with a 4-2 win over Tokyo Verdy on Sunday.

Jan Paul van Hecke, Yankuba Minteh, Simon Adingra and Jeremy Sarmiento got on the scoresheet, as Albion made it back-to-back victories having beaten Kashima Antlers on Wednesday.

While Albion would finish the first half in the lead, for much of the opening 45 minutes things didn’t go their way.

The dangerous Hiroto Yamami’s effort from the edge of the box after four minutes was deflected wide before he had another shot from close range blocked by James Milner.

Fabian Hurzeler has spoken this pre-season about the importance of set-pieces and he will be pleased to see his team score from one at this early stage. Valetin Barco’s corner was flicked up by Joel Veltman, brought down by Welbeck and tucked away by van Hecke after 12 minutes.

Albion’s joy was short lived though as Verdy responded three minutes later with a sublime goal. Yamami’s ball across the box with the outside of his foot was controlled by Yudai Kimura and he thumped it into the bottom right corner from ten yards.

Yumami would see an effort from range fly narrowly over the crossbar before steering Itsuki Someno’s cross into the side-netting from a tight angle.

Another set-piece should have yielded another goal for Albion after 30 minutes when Barco’s corner found Welbeck; the striker’s header was kept out by Verdy keeper Matheus and the striker then stabbed wide from a few yards out.

Yankuba Minteh scored his second goal of the Japan tour.

Malick Yalcouye had a half volley kept out by Matheus, before the visitors took the lead just before half-time. Ibrahim Osman and Welbeck combined in the centre circle before sending the ball out to the right for Minteh. The Gambia international ran at the Verdy defence before expertly steering the ball in the bottom left corner for his second goal of the Japan tour.

Albion changed their entire outfield 11 for the second half and almost immediately the fresh legs had an impact. Facundo Buonanotte’s in-swinging cross from the right found the run of Simon Adingra at the back post and the Ivory Coast man volleyed in to make it 3-1 after 48 minutes.

Simon Adingra finds the back of the net early in the second half against Verdy.

That didn’t dampen Verdy’s spirits though and they pulled one back with 54 minutes gone. Naoki Hayashi rose highest to a free-kick into the box and headed across goal into the bottom corner.

Jeremy Sarmiento restored our two-goal cushion with just under 15 minutes to go though. Facundo Buonanotte's one-man mission to find the back of the net saw him initially lose possession, but Sarmiento was there to pick up the pieces with a first time effort that flew into the bottom left corner.

Jeremy Sarmiento scored in the second half against Tokyo Verdy.

Late changes saw young Irishmen Killian Cahill and Mark O'Mahony replace Jason Steele and Abdallah Sima, with O'Mahony having a good chance to make it 5-2 from Adingra's cross, but he couldn't get a touch to poke it beyond Matheus.