Saudi Arabia missed out on a place in the quarter-finals of the AFC U23 Championship by the narrowest of margins as Group B winners Japan completed a 100% record with a 2-1 win at Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium on yesterday, thanks to goals from Ryota Ohshima and Yosuke Ideguchi.
Ohshima opened the scoring for Japan, who were already assured of a last eight meeting with Iran on Friday following earlier wins over North Korea and Thailand, with a superb solo effort midway through the first half before Ideguchi increased the lead at the start of the second half.
And despite Abdullah Madu’s penalty reducing the deficit just before the hour mark, North Korea’s 2-2 draw with Thailand meant North Korea claimed second place in Group B ahead of Saudi Arabia having scored one more goal after all three sides finished level on two points behind Japan. North Korea will now lock horns with Qatar in the quarter-finals, the buoyant hosts having cruised into the last eight stage after winning all their Group A matches.
“We played our game and also we had already qualified for the final stages, but we wanted to continue to win and continue to keep a cleansheet without conceding goals. So in terms of winning we achieved this goal, so from this point it is good, but unfortunately we conceded one goal. But we are in a good mood in order to go to the final stage,” said Japan coach Makoto Teguramori.
“Before the game with Iran we need to first make sure all the players are ready so I can choose any of the players, and we will also have to analyse Iran to see how they play and their style and their way of playing.”
With a last eight meeting with Iran already secured as Group B winners, Japan coach Teguramori made 10 changes to his side following Saturday’s 4-0 win over Thailand, while opposite number Adrie Koster brought in midfielder Abdulfattah Asiri and striker Abdulrahman al-Ghamdi knowing a win would secure qualification.
And both sides started the contest with plenty of attacking intent as Asiri flashed a free-kick just over the crossbar after 10 minutes before al-Ghamdi tested Japan goalkeeper Daichi Sugimoto five minutes later, while at the other end Shoya Nakajima saw his shot from the edge of the area deflected just wide soon after.
Chances continued to be created at both ends as goalkeeper Ahmad al-Harbi had to be alert to kick away Naomichi Ueda’s header from a 27th minute corner before Saudi Aribia broke forward and Mustafa al-Bassas shot straight at Sugimoto.
And the opening goal finally arrived 14 minutes before half-time courtesy of a superb individual effort from Ohshima as the midfielder charged forward and effortlessly skipped past a challenge before sending a sweetly struck rising strike into the top corner from 30 yards.
Japan then extended the advantage nine minutes into the second half as Takumi Minamino rolled the ball across the edge of the penalty area for Ideguchi to dispatch a side-footed strike coolly into the bottom corner past the outstretched dive of al-Harbi.
The two-goal cushion, though, lasted just three minutes as Madu calmly sent Sugimoto the wrong way from the penalty spot after defender Naomichi Ueda had clashed with al-Ghamdi while attempting to clear the danger as Japan struggled to clear the ball out of the area.
But with North Korea drawing with Thailand at Grand Hamad Stadium, Saudi Arabia missed out by a single goal scored after all three teams finished level on two points from their three games.
“We knew from the beginning what we had to do and we had to win the game and we prepared to win the game, but in the first half the team was not bringing what we expected due to maybe the stress and it was not enough to qualify,” said Saudi Arabia coach Koster.
“We have to be realistic, Japan are a good team and we knew it would be a hard and tough game and we could not make the equaliser and that is a pity. We also tried to make changes in the team with the substitutes, but that also did not give us the success we wanted.”