Yongin: The defending champions Japan defeated China 2-0 on Saturday for their second straight win at the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Football Championship, with the host nation South Korea coming up as their final opponent next week. Mao Hosoya and Henry Heroki Mochizuki scored a goal each for the winning side at Yongin Mireu Stadium in Yongin, 40 kilometers south of Seoul.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Japan and South Korea each have six points, with Japan holding the edge in goal difference, +7 to +5. These two rivals will square off at 7:24 p.m. Tuesday at Yongin Mireu Stadium with the tournament title on the line. This is the 10th edition of the top EAFF tournament, and South Korea, having defeated China 3-0 and then Hong Kong 2-0, are going for their sixth title. Japan are chasing their third.

The EAFF event isn't on FIFA's international match calendar, and thus clubs weren't obliged to release their players. Both South Korea and Japan have several national team mainstays based in Europe but did not select any of them for this event. The entire 26-man Japanese squad is made up of players in J1 League, while South Korea have three players from the Japanese league and 23 from the domestic K League 1.

Six South Korean players made their international debuts against China on Monday, and six more did so against Hong Kong on Friday. South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo has experimented with the back-three formation in each of the first two matches and is expected to stick to it against Japan over the more conventional back-four system.

South Korea have 42 wins, 23 draws, and 16 losses against Japan, but have four victories in their past 11 matches, dating to 2010.