Japan beats Qatar 3-2 to advance to semifinals of Asian Cup

"It doesn’t matter who we play against, we have to have bravery to play the Japanese style of football.”"

Which is? I've seen so many different styles played in the national team, but from first hand experience of playing with Japanese people here in Japan....for a majority of teams, its not about bravery, but about percentage...they dont take risks, but instead go for the highest possible scoring chance they can find after passing it 1 million times

I managed to get home for the second half and towards the end it was a pretty intense match. Qatar did very well, in my opinion, and should have won the game. The goal-keeper really botched things up a couple of times, including goal kicks that went out of bounds, and rushing away from the net to give Japan a clean shot.

Anyway, while Japan won the game, and I think that will boost its confidence, they have not faired very well against these much poorly ranked teams. It looked for a while like they would lose last night. THey're going to have to do a lot better in the semis. Fortunately for Japan, while they do relatively poorly against 'weak' teams, they suddenly put a lot more into it when it's a more evenly matched or even higher ranked team. They have a good shot at winning if they can be a little more consistant.

Qatar did very well, in my opinion, and should have won the game. Oh dear.

Japan won fairly. Merit has nothing to do with football. Japan put the ball in the net one time more than his opponent and that's the only thing that matters. People b*tch about Japan when they play well but fail to win, and when they win, they should have lost ?

BTW, Japan was the superior side. Even at 10 vs 11, they were better than Qatar.

Well done Japan! Nice result, considering they were one man and a goal down.

If I had money on Japan, I'd be very concerned about their defence - or lack of. Kawashima also was a liability in goal, wouldnt surprise to see Zac replace him. On the plus side, Kagawa was super - I can now see why Man United are desperate to put him alongside Rooney this season...

...also, credit to Qatar. They came close to shocking the soccer world last night,when no-one gave them any chance against unbackable favourite Japan. Their fans showed passion too, it seemed they were so loud they almost lifted that roof! Maybe 2012 was an inspired choice after all?

2012? I meant 2022 WC!

Oh please Burakumin, the tournament has been a disaster. If Qatar weren't in the contest, more than half of those "passionate fans" would have walked out long before kickoff.

As I said in a thread last night, Japan can't continue to do it the hard way - otherwise at one point they are bound to come unstuck.

But, the spirit in the team seems to be high, and Kagawa came to the party big style. No-one seriously doubts this boy is the real deal, he was sensational last night. I don't think he will be at United this season, but he could well be targeted in the summer. The only stumbling block would be that Borussia Dortmund are well on course to win the Bundesliga thus guaranteeing them Champions League football next year meaning they don't have to sell.

Hopefully Japan can ride this wave of self belief all the way to the title!

exiting game, to say the least, enjoyed very minute of it!

Bogus second yellow card call to Yoshida. He went for the ball and cleared it, only getting his legs tangled up after he got stepped on. Good on Japan for finishing the game strong and not letting the refereeing get in the way of advancing.

BurakiminDes: " They came close to shocking the soccer world last night,when no-one gave them any chance against unbackable favourite Japan."

EXACTLY! And yet if you say this kind of thing people say you're Japan-bashing for some reason, or that you're bi&&&ng about Japan. Bizarre. Qatar did very well despite Japan being the better team overall -- they had some amazing goal chances (besides the goals they got), and in the second half they had a lot more ball possession than Japan did. What's the problem with stating such facts?

Terumisensei: "Oh please Burakumin, the tournament has been a disaster. If Qatar weren't in the contest, more than half of those "passionate fans" would have walked out long before kickoff."

How is ANY soccer tournament that doesn't have the hometeam in it any different? Remember when Korea and Japan hosted in 2002? Once Japan was out the TVs were shut off, broadcasting was poor, and stadiums were hardly full at all (save for certain games). It's that way for pretty much any other sport as well, for that matter.

rockbuster: "As I said in a thread last night, Japan can't continue to do it the hard way - otherwise at one point they are bound to come unstuck."

Another bang on point, and I mirrored this to an extent earlier. Japan hasn't been doing all that well, despite advancing. It's all fine and dandy to celebrate their victory -- we should! -- but if they don't improve their overall game they might have trouble winning. THat said, if it's Korea I've no doubt they'll pick up any flaws they've had thusfar and try their best.

A bit off topic but did anyone else notice that there were virtually no women in the stadium (unless they were all in their own section)? It will be interesting in 2022 when many visitors from around the world converge on Qatar and try to wear as little as possible to escape the 45-degree Celsius heat! Even though the stadiums will be airconditioned, I reckon it will be pretty warm.

Japanese style soccer is that on every match heros (stars) spring up like mushrooms. This is superiority of Japan team. Last night' heros were Kagawa and Inoha who have been preparing for the hero's position.

My wife made me watch the game - soccer is so irritating!

I will say this though: The Japanese players don't act, don't dive, don't whine and wave their hands about begging for a penalty, etc.. I have to respect that.

For games not involving Qatar, the stadiums have been mostly empty.

knews,

interesting point. I wonder how they'll react to the Brazilian fans!!!

Great result from the Japanese, despite all the odds being against them. A few interesting points from last night.

The Qatari oil dollars definitely made their way into the officials bank accounts. Qatar committed more fouls (21) than Japan (17), yet only received 1 yellow card compared to Japan's 3 (the last of which was a very dubious 2nd yellow and red for Yoshida).

Injury time of 3 minutes was shown at 90 minutes, which then mysteriously changed to 4 minutes and even then the referee allowed Qatar a final attack on goal, finally blowing his whistle 4 minutes and 40 seconds into injury time.

The tournament attendances in Qatar have been a major disappointment. Only 20,000 fans for their national team playing at home in an Asian Cup quarter-final against Japan ? What is going to happen when they host the World Cup ! Are you watching Blatter ?

Zaccheroni and Hasebe need to learn to hassle the referee and the 4th official when the lack of yellow cards are used for all the fouls stopping Japan's play. Zaccheroni and Hasebe just left the officials alone who were happy to punish Japan and not Qatar. The only way to highlight the corruption is to kick off. Arsene Wenger/ Cesc Fabregas or Alex Ferguson/ Rio Ferdinand would have been literally throttling the referee and the 4th official last night.

credit to Qatar. They came close to shocking the soccer world last night,when no-one gave them any chance against unbackable favourite Japan. Their fans showed passion too, it seemed they were so loud they almost lifted that roof! Maybe 2012 was an inspired choice after all?

Of course, with a 1 man advantage (thanks to a 'non' 2nd yellow for Yoshida which was outrageous and led to their second), only 1 yellow card shown for 21, yes, 21 (!) fouls and an additional 40 seconds added to injury time to allow one more attack for Qatar, they were inspiring indeed. Although, with all those Brazilian names in the team was it actually Qatar's national team ?

Oh please Burakumin, the tournament has been a disaster. If Qatar weren't in the contest, more than half of those "passionate fans" would have walked out long before kickoff.

I totally agree. The tournament attendances have been a disaster. Blatter..

Their fans showed passion too, it seemed they were so loud they almost lifted that roof!

All 20,000 of them. Even the top 8 clubs in Englands second tier division achieve the same attendances.

Zaccheroni and Hasebe need to learn to hassle the referee and the 4th official when the lack of yellow cards are used for all the fouls stopping Japan's play. Zaccheroni and Hasebe just left the officials alone who were happy to punish Japan and not Qatar.

I dunno - I think Japan showed pure class by just getting on with things, and getting the goals they needed despite criminally poor refereeing. That second yellow for Yoshida was an insult to the Japanese. The Samurai just pressed on with 10-men and my respect for them went up a few notches last night.

Yes, overall the crowds have been woeful, worse than the Australian A-League even, apart from the Qatari games. And I also didn't see many women in the crown - except for the girls in the Samurai supporters. With the amount of riches that joint has to shower on FIFA - you'd think they could pay some citizens say $200 each to attend the games and get bums on seats! Or even pay indentured workers from the sub-continent to go.

So, let's hope tonights games will match that one! C'mon Aussies - it's payback time on those "Lions of Mesopotamia"!

With the amount of riches that joint has to shower on FIFA - you'd think they could pay some citizens say $200 each to attend the games and get bums on seats! Or even pay indentured workers from the sub-continent to go.

Good point Des. You would have thought they could have worked that one after getting the World Cup bidding right.

Hmm, I was not so excited by Macaroni Japan so much. They made their job difficult especially in the first half. In the moment when there was Qatar player out of the pitch instead of pushing harder and trying to score, they got goal in their own net.

The team in general looked better than the first two matches but worse than their 3rd mach. Too bad Zaccheroni was not brave enough to stick to the members of the third game.

Too bad Zaccheroni was not brave enough to stick to the members of the third game.

?? The only changes were Uchida being dropped and Honda coming back into the team after being alternated with Endo against the worst team in the tournament, Saudi Arabia. Honda being one of Japan's best players that is. Learn about the game before you make 'Macaroni Japan' jokes.

Well done the Green and Gold! We made it to the Semis against the Uzbeks. Gotta say, we don't deserve Mark Schwarzer though - his class saves our substandard play time and again. Well done Iraq - they could easily have won that game.

smithinjapan sure when a hosting team is eliminated from the tournament there is often a dip in crowds, but what I meant was that "in the match" meaning still with a chance of winning.

Qataris will desert their own team long before the final whistle if their team isn't winning or looks like they might win. Japanese fans will sing until the final whistle. Most fans will at least stay until the end.

It was awful to see the stadium visibly emptying out in Qatar's first match of the tournament because they were losing.

Too bad Zaccheroni was not brave enough to stick to the members of the third game.

Bogva, care to explain yourself? I thought he came out with the best available members. Who would you have replaced? Would you have taken out Honda?