Japan coach Makoto Teguramori is hoping his team’s current good mood can carry them into the final of the AFC U23 Championship and to a place at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro later this year.
Japan moved to within one win of qualifying for the Olympic Games with a 3-0 extra-time win over Iran thanks to a spectacular brace from Shoya Nakajima and an earlier strike by Yuta Toyokawa that set up a meeting with either the United Arab Emirates or Iraq in the last four.
Victory over either side on Tuesday will ensure Japan qualify for a sixth straight Olympic Games and Teguramori will be trying to continue to harness the upbeat mindset within his camp. “We’re very tired but we have won so I’m very comfortable with this tiredness,” said Teguramori.
“During the game I remembered the quarter-final we played in Oman two years ago (when Japan were knocked out by Iraq), so I knew we couldn’t push for the win. We knew if we waited we would be able to manage the game and get the win.
“In the first half we couldn’t create a good rhythm in offence but we showed restraint so that we could stay in the game and all of the starting players were restrained. We’re in a very good mood at the minute and we want to continue in that way so we can qualify for the Rio Olympic games. I’m very satisfied.”
Iran had been on top throughout much of the regular 90-minute period, with Milad Mohammadi going closest to breaking the deadlock when his header came back off the underside of the crossbar.
But, with Mohammad Khakpour’s side unable to find a way past the Japanese defence, they exited the tournament when Toyokawa headed home five minutes into extra-time before Nakajima netted two stunning goals within a minute of each other to send Japan through. “During the 90 minutes we had control of the game, we were playing much better than the Japan team until the first goal in extra time,” said Khakpour.
“At the same time I was forced to change one of my players, my right back. He couldn’t continue and because of that I had to change my tactics to move forward and play a more attacking game than defending. At this point losing 1-0 or 3-0 doesn’t matter.
“We tried to so hard, we hit the post twice but we couldn’t score. The chances we had we didn’t use and the Japanese used the chances they had, and that’s the rule in football, if you don’t take your chances the other team will score and that happened tonight.
“Tonight is a sad night for me because we lost the game, although we worked hard to be here. I’m really proud of my players. They were playing so well, they put whatever they had on the pitch, they worked hard and they were unlucky tonight and losing is not for them, it’s for me.
“I’m in charge of this team and I take responsibility, but I’m really proud of the players I have and hopefully these players will be the future of Iranian football and you will hear and see more about these players.”