For only the second time since 1984, Saudi Arabia will not appear in the tournament final after a shock 1-0 loss to Jordan sent the team crashing out in the first round.
Japan, which needed a last-minute strike to scrape a draw against Jordan in its opening game, once again relied on a late goal as Keisuke Honda's 82nd-minute penalty earned his side a 2-1 win over Syria in the day's second game.
That was enough to send Japan top of Group B ahead of Jordan, which also has four points, and Syria on three points. The top two go through to the quarterfinals.
Saudi Arabia was definitely eliminated and has only pride to play for in its final match against Japan on Monday, when Syria faces Jordan.
Saudi coach Nasser al-Johar, brought in for a fifth stint after Jose Peseiro was fired in the wake of the opening loss to Syria, blamed his team's loss to Jordan on bad luck, but that was unlikely to appease critics in his home country, who were already upset by Saudi Arabia's failure to qualify for last year's World Cup.
Falling at the first hurdle in Qatar was unthinkable for Saudi Arabia, the most successful nation at the Asian Cup with three runner-up finishes to go with its three titles.
However, despite dominating possession, the Saudis failed to break down a defense-minded Jordan side, and then saw goalkeeper Waleed Abdullah hopelessly out of position as Baha' Abdelrahman's deep cross from the left floated over his head and into the net in the 42nd minute.
"We were not lucky tonight but I believe we were good," Al-Johar said. "Jordan were lucky today as the goal that we conceded went in by luck because the ball was meant to be a cross."
Saudi Arabia's only other first-round exit since its 1984 debut came in 2004 when it was beaten by Iraq in its final group game. Iraq's coach was Adnan Hamad, who was now in charge of Jordan. "I don't want to talk about history," Hamad said. "Actually we played a very difficult team, and they needed to win this match, so I would like to thank my team for their outstanding performance.
"Our goal was to reach the next stage and we still have that target. We still haven't qualified."
Japan, one of the pre-tournament favorites, was also yet to guarantee its place in the next round, but was grateful to its star player for getting the team out of trouble against Syria.
Honda stepped up to score a penalty eight minutes from fulltime after Syria equalized with a controversial spot kick of its own in the 76th.
Sanharib Malki was flagged offside by the linesman before he was brought down by Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima in the box, but the referee overruled his official, pointed to the spot and Kawashima was sent off, prompting prolonged arguments from several Japan players.
Firas Al Khatib eventually converted the penalty, but Honda had the final say.
"It was not a tough game," Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni said. "With 10 players we played like with 11 players.
"We could have scored (more) in the first half, but we didn't and it was still a one-sided game for Japan."
Syria also ended the match with 10 men after Nadim Sabag was sent off for his second yellow card in stoppage time of what developed into a bad-tempered encounter.
On Friday, Australia plays South Korea in one of the most hotly anticipated matchups of the group stage.
Australia captain Lucas Neill insists his side is fully focused on the game, but says the players have also been concerned by events in their homeland where flooding has caused devastation in Queensland.
"Football is not the biggest thing when people back home are losing homes and family members," the defender said.
The Socceroos will wear special shirts in the warmup before the game, advertising the number to call to make donations for the flood relief appeal.
Australia cruised to a 4-0 win over India in its first match, while South Korea beat Bahrain 2-1. India faces Bahrain in the other Group C match on Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment