Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Saitama: Japan recovered from an indifferent start to register their first FIFA World Cup 2018 and AFC Asian Cup 2019 qualifying success on Thursday thanks to a 3-0 win over Cambodia in Saitama.
Japan’s victory, courtesy of goals from Keisuke Honda, Maya Yoshida and Shinji Kagawa, breathes much needed life back into a campaign that had sensationally failed to ignite following June’s goalless draw at home to Singapore in the four-time champions of Asia's Group E opener.
The defeat meanwhile, leaves Cambodia rooted to the foot of the Group E table and without a point following previous defeats to Singapore and Afghanistan.
With the Samurai Blue faithful harbouring high hopes of a comfortable win ahead of the fixture, Japan were surprisingly slow to warm to the task in hand during a first half which saw Vahid Halilhodzic’s charges virtually camped in their opponents’ half.
Indeed, the home crowd were forced to wait until the 19th minute for Japan’s first chance, Leicester City striker Shinii Okazaki turning neatly in the box before firing narrowly wide of visiting goalkeeper Sou Yatay’s left hand post.
The breakthrough, however, came some nine minutes later, AC Milan ace Honda profiting from hesitant defending to fire home from 20 yards.
As an absorbing first period drew to a close, Kagawa was distinctly guilty of missing two glorious chances from close range, while Okazaki also failed to extend his side’s advantage when he was denied by a fine Yatay save.
Japan’s incessant pressing continued after the break, and they were duly rewarded for their persistence in the 50th minute when Yoshida drilled a shot past Yatay to calm any home nerves there may have been at a noisy Saitama Stadium.
With the visitors defending deeper and deeper, Japan, perhaps not surprisingly, were quick to add a third, Kagawa making amends for his earlier errors by sweeping the ball into the Cambodia net on 61 minutes.
Two further efforts from substitute Takashi Usami and a late Masato Morishige header that was cleared off the line, briefly threatened to add further gloss to a scoreline that will nevertheless hand Japan a major boost ahead of their September 8 trip to Tehran where they are set to face Afghanistan.
The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.
Photo: AFP