Keisuke Honda and Shinji Kagawa were on target to give Japan a 2-0 win over Jordan yesterday as the holders swept imperiously into the Asian Cup quarter-finals.
Talisman Honda snapped up a rebound in the 24th minute, after Shinji Okazaki’s low drive had been well saved by Jordan goalkeeper Amer Shafi, to net his third goal in three games and take the Blue Samurai through as comfortable winners of Group D.
Kagawa, largely ineffectual up to that point, added a second from close range eight minutes from time, capping Japan’s third straight victory. They are scheduled to face the United Arab Emirates in the last eight, while Jordan were eliminated.
Photo: AFP
Honda was Japan’s heartbeat throughout the match, which was watched by 25,000 in Melbourne, including Japanese tennis star Kei Nishikori, competing at the Australian Open across the road.
Shortly after putting Japan in front, he whipped in a corner, which defender Masato Morishige met with a fierce header that forced an acrobatic save from the busy Shafi.
Japan had the ball in the net after just 10 minutes, only for Takashi Inui’s bullet volley to be ruled out after Okazaki was adjudged to have taken the ball out of play before crossing it. Honda had another goal disallowed for a questionable offside shortly before the hour mark and smashed a shot against the post in the last minute, capping a lively performance.
Makoto Hasebe, making his 56th appearance as captain, bossed the midfield, constantly breaking up play to allow Honda and Yuto Nagatomo the freedom to run riot.
Japan, who won a record fourth Asian Cup by edging Australia in the 2011 final, thrashed Palestine 4-0 and beat Iraq 1-0 in their first two games and are slight favorites to lift the trophy again.
In yesterday’s other Asian Cup match, Iraq defeated Palestine 2-0 to reach the quarter-finals.
Iraq captain Younis Mahmoud, who famously scored the winner in Iraq’s 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia in the 2007 Asian Cup final, climbed for a towering header to put his side ahead in the 48th minute.
Mahmoud has been without a club for a year, and his rustiness showed when he missed a penalty in the second half. However, a late Ahmed Yaseen strike made the win secure.
Iraq’s win against debutants Palestine sets up a quarter-final grudge match against archrivals Iran in Canberra on Friday.
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