In 1968, Toyo Kogyo (nowadays known as Sanfrecce Hiroshima in Japan) flew to Malaysia to play in two friendly matches against Selangor in Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur on 17 February 1968 and Perak in Ipoh, Perak on 18 February 1968. Toyo Kogyo was the most powerful Japanese football club to play here during that time. Toyo Kogyo previously won the Japan Soccer League (JSL) Championship for the third consecutive years from 1965 until 1967 and the Emperor's Cup in 1965 and 1967. This club was the most widely travelled club side in Asia. Their players have 11 internationals who have played in South America, Russia and Western Europe. Furthermore, their players also played in Asian appearances include the Merdeka Cup series, Asian Cup, pre-Olympic ties and the Asian Games. Three of their players played for Japan in the Olympic Games Mexico 1968 such as Aritatsu Ogi, Yasuyuki Kuwahara and Ikuo Matsumoto. Japan won bronze medal for football in the Olympic Games Mexico 1968 after they won against Mexico 2-0 scores.
List of Toyo Kogyo players that played in the match against Selangor on 17 February 1968 were Kuji Funamoto, Yusoke Niwa, Kazuo Imanishi, Tsuyoshi Kuniteda, Hiroshi Numata, Ryuso Okamitsu, Yasuyuki Kuwahara, Aritatsu Ogi, Takayuki Kuwata, Ikuo Matsumoto, Teruo Mimura, Haruo Ooshima, Hiroshi Yoshida, Hiroyaku Kuwahara, Hirocohi Tanimura and Yoshipaka Sueshiga. In this match against Selangor, Toyo Kogyo hope that Selangor as the runners up of 1st Asian Champion Teams Tournament 1967 will give them a hard and best game performance. Selangor players under the coaching of Edwin Dutton consists of Ong Kim Leng, Zulkifli Norbit, Chan Yong Chong, Ibrahim Mydin, Wong Choon wah, Chow Chee Keong, J.Daniel, Sardar Khan, Foo Fook Chuan, Dell Akbar, Wong Fook Yong, N.Thanabalan, Agus Salim, Chow Kwai Lam, Abdullah Noordin (captain) and M.Chandran (vice captain).
Front image of Toyo Kogyo match pennant for the match against Selangor.
Back image of Toyo Kogyo match pennant for the match against Selangor.
Japan Soccer League souvenir pin given to the Selangor players.
Japan Soccer League mini ball and Adidas mini football boots were given to the Selangor players as souvenirs.
Sanfrecce Hiroshima emblem.
Toyo kogyo won this match against Selangor with the scores of 4-1. The scores for Toyo Kogyo came from Aritatsu Ogi and Yasuyuki Kuwahara (each of them scored 2 goals). The only goal came from Selangor was scored by N.Thanabalan. Then, 10 months after this tournament, Toyo Kogyo again successfully became the champion of JSL Championship on 22 December 1968 and this winning title was strongly hold by them for the fourth consecutive years from 1965 until 1968.
Nowadays, two of the Toyo Kogyo players from this football match were listed in the Japan Football Association Hall of Fame. They were Aritatsu Ogi and Ikuo Matsumoto.
Aritatsu Ogi.
Ikuo Matsumoto.
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