The Favourites Take Ascendency – From the Stands Asian Cup – Day 4 Review.
Matchday 4 of the 2015 Asian Cup saw the first two fixtures of Group D played out in front of healthy crowd in Newcastle and a noisy one in Brisbane.
Game 1 Final Result:
Japan 4 (Endo 8’, Okazaki 25, Honda 44’, Yoshida 49) defeated Palestine 0.
It wasn’t so much about the game as it was the occasion on a blustery afternoon in Newcastle. The game represented a landmark event as Palestine appeared in their first ever Asian Cup appearance. However they probably wished for a better welcome then this, facing the reigning holders in Japan.
It wasn’t hard to tell who the better ranked side in the early exchanges were with Japan setting the tempo early. The first chance fell inside the first minute with Honda hitting the side netting from a clever cross, however he was in an offside position.
The dominance didn’t stop throughout the first 45 minutes. The mark of a good side is converting the dominance into goals and Japan certainly did that. The first of which came from a long range shot from Endo which very much dribbled into the bottom left corner of the net. This again exposed the poor standard of goalkeeping from the smaller nations in this tournament.
The dominance continued and in the 25th minute it payed off again when a Kagawa hits a volley which was cleverly deflected in by Okazaki. This was followed in the 44th minute when some silly defending resulted in a penalty to Japan which was routinely converted by Honda.
The second half was very much a case of Japan just seeing the game through and they did that rather effectively. A routine header from Yoshida capitalized on a quality cross from Kagawa. That rounded out the scoring in the match with Japan content to allow Palestine hold more of the ball and create one of two chances off set pieces.
Crowd: 17,147
A good healthy turn out greeted both sides with vocal support for either side in attendance. Although the crowd figure is 15k, there have been rumours that more people actually attended the fixture. Good work Newcastle, keep it up.
FTS Man of the match: Endo. Key to the dominance of any weaker opponent is the midfield. Most crucially today it was Yasuhito Endō who stepped up, who opened the scoring and was rather efficient controlling the midfield.
Game 2 Final Result:
Jordan 0 defeated by Iraq 1 (Kasim 77)
Sometimes it just takes a moment of magic to break open a game of football. That happened in this game, a clever goal from Yaser Kasim ensured that Iraq took a massive step towards qualifying for the latter stages of the competition.
However this game did test the patience of all watching it both at home and at the ground. The first half was very much a tight, tense midfield battle or one for the purist. Chances were few and far between with Iraq possibly edging the battle with 52% of the possession. Iraqi captain Mahmood was the outlet, with a poor touch denying him a chance early on and a desperate challenge denying him when he was through on goal.
The only chances which Jordan could create in the first half was a couple of tame efforts from Al Saify and Aldmeiri from long range which never looked like threatening the Hassan goal.
Unfortunately for the spectators the second half continued on the pattern of the first. The midfielders from both teams locked horns again however an early shot on goal from Jordan was saved with ease. This seemed to turn the game around with Jordan looking up for the contest. The pressure almost paid off when a cross from Zahran was headed narrowly over the bar from an Iraqi defender.
However then the game turned once more when a player actually decided to run at his opponents. A darting run from Kasim ended up with a shot which was deflected into the bottom right corner of the net putting Iraq ahead.
One goal was always going to decide this and that turned out to be the case. Iraq hardly looked threatened from that point on and a red card to Jordanian Bani Yaseen all but assured that Iraq would see the game out.
Crowd: 6840
A small crowd turned out to this fixture. Noise and atmosphere was provided by the rowdy Iraqi fans for this fixture.
FTS Man of the match: Yaseer Kasim
Who else? Kasim provided the breakthrough and pulled most of the strings in the Iraqi midfield. It is the year of Swindon Town at the Asian Cup.
Group table.
| Japan | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Iraq | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Jordan | 1 | 0 | -1 |
| Palestine | 1 | 0 | -4 |
Asian Cup 2015 Attendance Running Total : 109,630
Google+
