Japan, ranked world number 15, were playing for the sixth time in the tournament since 1987, and have never advanced to the final before, with their best achievement being fourth place in 2022, going down 3-5 to Pakistan in the bronze-medal match.
In tonight’s match, Seren Tanaka opened the scoring in the 20th minute to begin the highly-entertaining final, shocking hundreds of Pakistani supporters in the stadium.
However, Pakistan, who have been labelled as the comeback kings in the tournament, displayed their fighting spirit and went ahead as Ajaz Ahmad and Abdul Rehman fired field goals in the 34th and 37th minute, respectively.
In the final-quarter, the Blue Samurais launched concerted attacks in search of the equaliser and levelled the tie when Kazumasa Matsumoto’s shot sailed into goal in the 47th minute, forcing a shootout.
The Blue Samurais, won the toss and gained advantage as Kosei Kawabe, Ryoma Ooka and Seren Tanaka were on target, while Pakistan’s Rana Waheed Ashraf and Arshad Liaqat missed.
The Green Shirts, then kept their hopes alive as skipper Ammad Butt managed to overcome Japanese stopper Takumi Kitagawa. However, Japan confirmed their victory when Kazumasa Matsumoto netted their fourth to send the Pakistanis packing home in disappointment, after failing to end their 11-year title drought.
Pakistan previously won the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in 1999, 2000, and 2003.
Japan’s head coach, Yoshihiro Anai, said his charges gained very valuable experience by winning the tournament, which will be crucial en route to achieving their mission of winning the gold at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
He praised the team for their never give up attitude and staying disciplined throughout the tournament. “Pakistan is always a good team, both teams wanted to win, not easy to overcome them,” he said.
Pakistan head coach Roelant Oltmans said his side received what they deserved today, after failing to convert at least four chances to kill the game earlier.
Malaysian striker Muhammad Azrai Aizad Abu Kamal won the top scorer award after having netted eight goals in the tournament, while Japan’s Takumi Kitagawa and Takashi Yoshikawa were jointly declared as the best goalkeepers of the tournament.
Pakistan’s Muhammad Sufyan Khan was selected as the player of the tournament, while Canada were awarded the fair play award.
Malaysia, who started as defending champions, finished in fourth-place after going down 2-3 to world number 10 New Zealand.