Football: Ritsu Doan scores as Freiburg down Darmstadt

DARMSTADT, Germany (Kyodo) — Japan attacker Ritsu Doan scored his fifth goal of the German Bundesliga football season on Sunday, leading Freiburg to a 1-0 win away to bottom club Darmstadt.

Doan, coming in from the right-hand side, exchanged passes with Michael Gregoritsch and fired in a curling shot 36 minutes into the match.

“I’m finally starting to get the numbers,” the 25-year-old Doan said of his season goal tally — three of them coming in the last four league matches. “A good ball came to me. I was able to shoot with great concentration.”

Among other Japanese playing for European clubs, Koki Ogawa scored both goals of NEC Nijmegen’s 2-2 draw at home to Zwolle in the Dutch Eredivisie.