Roma Roam into the Last Four While Kashiwa Stun Real

Italian side Roma enhanced their position as tournament favorites when setting up a semifinal clash with Aspire Academy in the Alkass International Cup. Roma maintained the tournament’s only 100% winning record when making light work of defeating Spartak Moscow.

They stormed to a 3-0 victory over 10-man Spartak, who failed to find their best form on the day. The first half saw a heavy downpour and also a headed goal from player of the match Edoardo Bove, who netted his third goal of the tournament when getting on the end of Andrea Astrologo’s cross.

The Russians had Yacheslav Frolov sent off during the second half and the Italians doubled their advantage when substitute Daniel Tueto Fotso headed home at the far post. Riccardo Ciervo added a third in the closing stages, thanks to VAR after his effort was initially ruled out for offside. The same player almost added a fourth moments later as the Italians booked their place in the semifinals.

The second quarter-final saw Kashiwa Reysol knock out 2017 champions Real Madrid for the second successive year. The teams have met in the tournament in each of the last three years, with Kashiwa winning the last two. Kashiwa went ahead from the spot midway through the first half with a well-taken penalty by Naito Saito, and Yuki Shimizu finished off a fine move to give them a 2-0 half-time advantage.

It remained that way as Kashiwa defended strongly and Real were unable to create many clear opportunities.