FC Tokyo cruised into the group stage of this season's Asian Champions League with a 9-0 playoff thrashing of Thailand's Chonburi FC on Tuesday night.
An early Chonburi own goal and strikes from Takuma Abe and Keigo Higashi gave Tokyo a three-goal halftime lead at Ajinomoto Stadium, and Ryoichi Maeda and Takuji Yonemoto put the game further beyond the outclassed Thais within 10 minutes of the restart.
Kota Mizunuma and substitute Hiroki Kawano then continued the onslaught, before another Chonburi own goal and a late Kawano penalty completed the rout — a club-record score — and sent Tokyo back into the ACL for the first time since 2012.
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