Japan beat bitter, but familiar foes Bahrain 2-0 for their second successive victory yesterday in a Group C match of the third round of Asian qualifiers for next year’s London Olympic Games.
Japan moved to the top of the group after the victory, which was more emphatic than the score suggests, with six points. Syria are second with three points from their win over Bahrain last month. Malaysia, who lost to Japan 2-0 in the first match, are third and Bahrain fourth, both yet to win a point.
Three groups of four teams are playing home and away in the third round of the qualifiers, with the winner of each group qualifying for the Olympics. The second best teams of the third round will play one centralized round-robin tournament and the winners take on an African team in a playoff.
Japan took a deserving lead a minute before halftime through Yuki Otsu, who scampered to connect with a cross from the right by Takahiro Ogihara and beat Bahrain goalkeeper Salem Abdulla.
Midfielder Keigo Higashi doubled the lead in the 67th minute, making the most of another blunder by goalkeeper Abdulla, who failed to collect Naoki Yamada’s feeble attempt from close range. The ball slipped out of the goalkeeper’s hands and Higashi gleefully tapped the ball in, much to the delight of the Japanese expatriate fans, who surprisingly outnumbered the locals at the National Stadium.
Japan were clearly the dominant team right from the start, with their forwards Otsu and Yuya Osako, and overlapping midfielder Naoki Yamada making repeated inroads deep into the Bahrain penalty area, but the dangerous Otsu, who plies his trade at Borussia Moenchenglad-bach in the Bundesliga, was well marked by defender Mohammed Al Banna and that effectively took the sting out of many of Japan’s raids.
Yet the one-way traffic harassed the Bahrain defense and kept goalkeeper Abdulla endlessly busy.
Japan’s dominance of the first half was evident from the six corners they managed, compared with none for Bahrain.
Japan could have completed the match on a high with a third goal in the 90th minute, but Osako’s shot only rocked the goalpost.
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