Aston Villa and Newcastle face East Asian opposition in Soccer Sevens
Exciting quarter-final line up in store after Saturday action
Five-time champions Aston Villa set up a HKFC Citi Soccer Sevens quarter-final with Japan’s Kashima Antlers after three successive wins on Saturday.
Aston Villa, who have also appeared in the final on two more occasions, claimed victories over Kitchee, Hong Kong Football Club and Newcastle United to top Group A without conceding a goal.
“The win [against Newcastle] has given us good confidence going into tomorrow’s game because they’re probably the strongest team in the group,” said Corey Blackett-Taylor, who scored the only goal of the game in the group decider against Newcastle.
Peter Beardsley’s Newcastle will also face East Asian opposition in the last eight on Sunday in the form of Group C winners FC Seoul, who also boast a 100% record and have yet to concede, and have the tournament’s top scorer Yang Yu-min.
Last year’s runners-up West Ham United stepped up their form late in the day on Saturday by overcoming Leicester City 2-0 in their final fixture to top group D and set up a quarter-final tie with Hong Kong champions Eastern.
“It was brilliant to get that last win against Leicester,” said midfielder Alex Pike, who scored the first goal in the win over the English Premier League winners. “
