Japan, which was expected to play the ‘Asian Cup final between Korea and Japan’ with Klinsmann, suffered a shock loss to Iraq.There is a greater possibility that the Korea-Japan match will take place early in the round of 16.Japan lost 1-2 to Iraq, where Aymen Hussein scored multiple goals, in the second match of Group D of the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Qatar Asian Cup held at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar on the 19th.With the loss on this day, Japan fell to second place in the group (3 points, 1 win, 1 loss), behind Iraq (6 points, 2 wins). The second place in Group D will play the first place in Group E in the round of 16.If Korea, led by coach Jurgen Klinsmann, maintains first place in Group E and Japan finishes the group stage in second place, Korea and Japan will clash in the round of 16.
Japan’s winning streak that had continued since the friendly match against El Salvador in June of last year was halted at 10 games.If you include the warm-up match against Jordan right before the tournament, which is not an official A match, Japan is on an 11-game winning streak. It has been 42 years since Japan lost to Iraq in the 1982 Asian Games (Iraq won 1-0).Japan, ranked 17th in the FIFA rankings, the highest among Asian countries, was expected to have an advantage over Iraq, ranked 63rd, but the match proceeded in the opposite direction.Japan had a 70% to 30% ball possession lead in the first half, but was unable to easily enter Iraq’s dangerous area and was outshot by 3 to 5 in missed shots and 0 to 3 in effective shots.In particular, they were unable to stop Iraq’s left fullback Ahmed Yahya at all in the first half.Yahya was a player who drew the ire of domestic fans by hitting Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) in the face at the last minute in the friendly match played by Klinsmann against Iraq just before this tournament, and he performed brilliantly in offense and defense that day.
Iraq scored the first goal five minutes into the first half.Ali Jassim’s cross from the left came close to the goal, and Japanese goalkeeper Zion Suzuki was able to deflect it to striker Aymen Hussein, who was lurking in front of the goal, and Hussein split the Japanese goal with a header.Japan increased the level of the offensive, but Yahya continued to penetrate on the right, and ended up conceding an additional goal in the 49th minute of the first half.When Yahya cut to the left and crossed, Hussein again rushed to the goal and scored with his head.Hussein, who scored his third goal of the tournament, tied for the lead in scoring with Qatar’s Akram Afif.At the start of the second half, Japan strengthened their back foot by bringing in Takehiro Tomiyasu, a 온라인카지노 center back who plays for England’s Arsenal.
