Japan, Jordan advance to Asian Cup quarterfinals

Slaughter by Japan. Good job. Still pretty baffling that they are only on top by goal difference, but hey.

Congrats to Japan! They made it look easy. Now the question is, will they be able to sustain this winning streak through to the Asian Cup Championship? And how will they fare against European teams?

I expect Japan to go on and win the tournament from here. They've improved with every game and yesterday's training match will put them in good stead against nearest rivals SK for supremacy in Asia. I don't see any other team getting close, and sadly that includes Australia who are now too slow and old.

Much easier to win and look good when the strikers put the ball in the net, instead of wide or in the seats, which is the usual Japan style. A good sign for the rest of the tournament, even if the Saudis didn't have anything to play for.

5-0? wow so either Syria was really good or Saudi was really bad. Either way congrats :)

OzKen - I dunno, I still think it is a 3-horse race between Aus, SK and Japan. Schwarzer is the world-class keeper of this tournament - and Neill was brilliant against the Koreans - and they are 38 and 34 I think! Would like to see a match up of Japan and Australia at some stage...

Congrats to Japan. Some deft footwork for sure.

But keeping it all in perspective. How more abysmal could the Saudi team be?

Defence - What defence??? The goal keeper was embarrassingly out of it.

And I suspect Japan's weakness may well be when their own defence is under attack from a real surging pressuring side.

They certainly haven't been tested by quality opposition in this group, so looking forward to seeing them strut their stuff against the bigger boyz.

I always had a feeling that Okazaki could bring more than Honda. He (Honda) is a good player, but I wonder what Zaccheroni will do against Qatar. I still think he should keep Okazaki as a substitute to get the best out of him. Anyway, this was definitely not a slaughter and Schwarzer is good, but not world-class. Let's keep things in perspective.

It was a slaughter, roomtemperature. I think you might be the only person of everyone I've seen talking about the game to not believe that the Saudis were massacred. Worst performance of any team in the tournament so far.

What that will do is fill the Japanese with so much confidence, rightfully so, and I do hope to see them now move on and humiliate Qatar in front of a half empty stadium in the quarter final.

Some really brilliant goals last night. Nice to see a young up-and-coming confident Japanese team. They made some stupid mistakes, and towards the end seemed to be running out of steam, but Saudi were unable to take advantage of that. Well done Japan. Glad I watched that game.

go japan !!!

It is difficult to compare Honda & Okazaki because when they play as strikers, their roles are different. Honda's is to hold the ball up and buy enough time for the likes of Matsui, Kagawa or whoever is playing to get up the pitch & support him.

Okazaki is a kind of harasser, he s great at working defenders & never giving them a moments peace. He reminds me of Kenny Miller, the Glasgow Rangers forward, or a (very) poor man's Carlos Tevez in the way that he is always working off the ball.

As for the quarter final, it is a difficult decision for Zac but I think he will go with Honda and use Okazaki as an impact substitute.

As an aside, is this what we can expect from the Qatar world cup? Crowds of just 2000 or so?

Schwarzer is good, but not world-class.

I would've thought being the starting keeper of a club in a world-class league like the EPL would constitute him being "world-class". Some people are just hard to impress hey?

Just watched the highlights again.

Wow - those goals were like at practice - absolutely no pressure.

The Saudi goalie basically allowed every goal.

A breezer for the Samurai and not much to be expected from Qatar next round. Valiant hearted maybe but should be a softie for Japan.

I would've thought being the starting keeper of a club in a world-class league like the EPL would constitute him being "world-class".

Playing in a world class league doesn't make him one of the best keepers in the world (world class). Besides, if he's really that good his club wouldn't be ranked 15th.

Roomtemperature - if you can only measure a keeper's measure by his team's league standing. You clearly lack the ability to assess what makes a good keeper or not. I rest my case

Well done, Japan humbled the competitor and reached the quarterfinals.

You clearly lack the ability to assess what makes a good keeper or not.

Maybe. Maybe not. But I DO have the ability to see that a goal keeper is NOT world class if he never made it to the Top 10 of best goal keepers in the world. It also shows that I not only judge his qualities by the standing of his club.

Maybe. Maybe not. But I DO have the ability to see that a goal keeper is NOT world class if he never made it to the Top 10 of best goal keepers in the world. It also shows that I not only judge his qualities by the standing of his club.

Yes, maybe not. That is, maybe you do not follow the game closely enough to understand it well enough. But that's alright, no need to feel embarrassed, I've read much sillier comments. Schwarzer is in the top three goalkeepers in the EPL. That's the Premier League to the uninitiated like yourself. Arsenal have tried desperately to sign him, and it's only his good character which has prevented him from doing so. He could have whinged and sooked his way out of Fulham, but his professionalism prevented him from doing so which is why he still plays for them under Mark Hughes.

OzKen - I dunno, I still think it is a 3-horse race between Aus, SK and Japan. Schwarzer is the world-class keeper of this tournament - and Neill was brilliant against the Koreans - and they are 38 and 34 I think! Would like to see a match up of Japan and Australia at some stage...

Injuries have just about killed any hopes in my opinion. But then again, with extra-time and penalty shootouts never say never I guess.

roomtemp - The top ten is The Top Ten in the world.

World class usually is understood to be playing/achieving/competing/working in the highest "group" in the world.

For example many olympic athletes are world class, but they certainly will never win a medal or even rank in the top ten.

There are exceptions to this, but I believe the term world class is generally understood as such.

Whether Schwarzer is world class or not I don't know, but if he was the Saudi goalie against Japan, rest assured the scoreline would have been markedly different. He is in that class.

Ozken:

Schwarzer is in the top three goalkeepers in the EPL.

Would you mind checking the website of the Premier League and search for the link "Top 10 Goalkeepers", which was updated yesterday at 11am? Then maybe you understand who's uninitiated here.

The EPL is the league with the worst keepers. No disrepect but that's the truth. Look at Robert Green, Almunia, Ben Forster, and so on ...

Would you mind checking the website of the Premier League and search for the link "Top 10 Goalkeepers", which was updated yesterday at 11am? Then maybe you understand who's uninitiated here.

Why would I bother on stats alone, like you do? I've watched the Premier League closely for over two decades, I don't need some ridiculous updated link to tell me who are the class goalkeepers in that league. You must be one of those people who believes everything FIFA says and the world rankings, jeez, you must follow them like they are god's written word also. In all seriousness, I judge players over two to three years, not on stats that relate to a third of one season. Mark Schwarzer is in the top three. The end.