Asian Cup: Japan cruise past Bahrain while Iran beat Syria on penalties
Japan eased into the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup with a clinical 3-1 victory over Bahrain in Qatar with goals from Ritsu Doan, Takefusa Kubo and Ayase Ueda.
Bahrain’s coach, Juan Antonio Pizzi, had been looking to heal old wounds after his Saudi Arabia team lost to Japan at the same stage in 2019 but Hajime Moriyasu’s side put in a commanding performance and rarely looked troubled. Japan, four-times champions, will face Iran in the quarter-final.
“All Asian teams here at the Asian Cup are getting better, the level of football has grown,” Moriyasu said. “But even though other teams are growing, we’ve managed to improve as well, which is down to our players’ efforts. But I don’t think today’s performances were 100% and we can still improve.”
Japan took the lead in the 31st minute when Seiya Maikuma unleashed a venomous strike that crashed off the post but the midfielder Doan was alert to pounce on the rebound to score from close range.
Japan went 2-0 up just after halftime through a stroke of good fortune when an unmarked Kubo received the ball inside the box, turned and fired home, with the goal awarded after a VAR check for an offside call.
Bahrain halved the deficit from a corner when Japan’s goalkeeper, Zion Suzuki, saved Sayed Baqer’s header but as he attempted to catch the ball when it looped up in the air, Ueda tried to head clear and they collided as the ball went over the line.Japan have failed to keep a clean sheet at the tournament. “Every opponent we come up against will analyse us and expose our weak points,” Japan’s captain, Wataru Endo, said. “I know we have to make this right, we have to concentrate for 90 minutes.”
Ueda made amends for the own goal when he made it 3-1. He quickly evading three defenders and as they tried to stop him racing away by pulling his shirt, the striker pulled the trigger from a tight angle to beat the keeper, Ebrahim Lutfalla.
Kaoru Mitoma make his return from injury and the Brighton winger sent a buzz around the Al Thumama
Stadium when he made several chances with his agility and speed on the ball, skipping past defenders with sublime ease.
But Japan did not capitalise and Lutfalla stood firm to deny them a fourth goal. “It was a difficult match,” Pizzi said. ”They were stronger, they were better than us technically and physically. They have players with great individual skills.”
In the day’s later last-16 encounter, Iran survived going down to 10 men to beat Syria 5-3 in a penalty shootout after the game ended 1-1 after extra time.
Syria’s Fahd Youssef saw his penalty saved by goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand in the shootout while Iran converted all their spot kicks, with captain Ehsan Hajsafi netting the decisive one.
Iran were one of three teams to finish the group stage with maximum points and knockout stage debutants Syria had done well to contain them until they gifted their Middle Eastern counterparts a penalty in the first half. Aiham Ousou deliberately barged into Mehdi Taremi without making any attempt to go for the ball and the Iranian striker stepped up to take the penalty, firing into the bottom-right corner for his third goal of the tournament.
But Syria levelled when Pablo Sabbag came on as a substitute and immediately won a penalty when he beat the offside trap and was fouled by Beiranvand, with Omar Khribin calmly slotting it home to make it 1-1. Things went from bad to worse for Iran when Taremi was sent off for a second yellow card. Having been booked for simulation earlier, Taremi fouled Alaa al-Dali to earn another booking and reduce Iran to 10 men for the final minutes and extra time.
However, Iran managed to hold on and take the game to penalties where they were unfazed by the pressure, extending coach Amir Ghalenoei’s unbeaten run to 15 games since he took charge of Team Melli in March last year.