AFC Champions League" 3 games and 4 blasts! Japanese rising star Zong Sanlei admits that "afternoon meeting at night" has an impact

Zongshan fortress. (AP)

[Sports Center/Comprehensive Report] In the preliminaries of the 2026 AFC Champions League, the Japanese team faced Australia in the evening and still won 16-1. Japan's "Authentic Connection" has started three consecutive games, and both of them have accumulated 4 hits in this tournament. Japan's 23-year-old rising star Rui Soyama admitted after the game that he only slept for about 5 or 6 hours yesterday, and his physical strength was affected in the second half of the game.

Zongshan hit a grand slam in the first inning and had 2 hits in a single inning. He had 5 hits, 2 hits and 4 RBIs in the game. In this AFC Champions League, he played 3 games and had a total of 15 hits and 8 hits, including 4 home runs, 10 runs and RBIs, and a batting average of 0.533.

The Japanese team defeated South Korea 9-5 yesterday, but the game ended at 10:22 pm local time. 13 hours and 30 minutes later, they faced Australia at 12 noon local time.

Japanese media "Nikkan Sports" reported that Zong Shanlei said frankly, "Sure enough, in the second half of the game, I was still a bit overwhelmed physically." Zong Shanlei mentioned that he usually aims to sleep for more than 8 hours. "I slept for about 5 or 6 hours yesterday." Zong Shanlei said, "Now I just want to go to bed quickly." This made the fans laugh continuously.

The Japanese team advanced to the AFC Champions League championship game with three consecutive victories. Soyama said, "I will have a good rest today and pay attention to my performance at the beginning of the game tomorrow."