Japan captain Maya Yoshida has warned the Blue Samurai they need to find an extra gear to challenge joint favorites Iran and South Korea for the Asian Cup title.
The Southampton central defender on Sunday admitted Japan had benefited from two controversial penalty decisions after a 1-0 victory over Oman in Abu Dhabi that sent the Blue Samurai into the round-of-16.
“We have to be more clinical,” Yoshida said after Japan’s second straight win in Group F. “We should have scored two or three more. Our performances are still not good enough, clearly.”
Genki Haraguchi converted from the penalty spot after 28 minutes after tumbling theatrically under little or no contact.
Oman then had a legitimate penalty shout waved away after Yuto Nagatomo appeared to use his hand to block a shot just before halftime.
“We were a little bit lucky with the penalty we had — and the one not given as well, but the most important point for us was to get through the group,” Yoshida said.
Nagatomo likened his lucky escape to Diego Maradona’s infamous intervention against England at the 1986 FIFA World Cup, expressing relief that the video assistant referee (VAR) is not used during the group stages.
“It hit my hand,” Nagatomo said. “It’s lucky there was no VAR because it probably would have been given.”
“Happily the ‘Hand of God’ was with us today,” he said.
A new-look Japan were similarly unimpressive in beating Turkmenistan 3-2 in their opening fixture, but were missing two-goal hero Yuya Osako for the Oman clash due to a thigh injury.
The Werder Bremen striker was sorely missed, with Takumi Minamino squandering a hatfull of chances.
“It was tougher than we thought it would be,” Yoshida said.
“If we had taken our chances we wouldn’t have struggled so much late on, but I’m confident we will find our form,” he said.
Japan, who reached the knockout stage at last year’s World Cup, have won a record four Asian Cups, but appear to lack the quality of Iran and South Korea this year.
“We can’t expect to dominate every game,” said Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu, who is unbeaten in seven matches since taking over after the World Cup.
“It was important to get through the group and we have done that,” he said. “The key will be to grow into the tournament game by game.”
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