Japan vs UAE – From The Stands Asian Cup – Quarter Final Preview
The final quarter final of the 2015 Asian Cup brings us an intriguing clash between Japan (the winner of group D) against the United Arab Emirates (runner up of Group C). The game will be played at Stadium Australia in Sydney and the fixture should bring a healthy crowd.
Japan rather predictably eased through the group stages, comfortably beating Palestine, Iraq and Jordan without really raising a sweat. With possibly the strongest squad on paper, Japan has lived up to the hype and the team will be boosted by Kagawa in particular scoring and gaining some much needed confidence. Before that goal, the form of Honda will indeed have future opponents scared as he was influential in all three fixtures scoring a goal in each. On top of those two, the team is definitely star studded with players such as Endo and Okazaki gracing the pitch. This makes them a definite contender to take out the competition.
If the last group game of Group C would have finished exactly when the clock hit 90 minutes, The United Arab Emirates would have finished first in the group and faced a less daunting contest. However the late Iranian winner consigned the Emirates to the daunting task of playing Japan. Positives can be taken from the group stage though with valuable wins in their first two fixtures against Bahrain and Qatar ensured they would take part in the knockout phase of the tournament. Key to their success has been the emergence of Omar Abdulrahman who has conducted the team like an orchestra so far.
Player of the Tournament thus far
Japan: Keisuke Honda
Quite possibly the highest profile player at the tournament and he hasn’t disappointed. Backed up by a formidable team which includes Shinji Kagawa, the playmaker has no shortage of service and so far he has used it to his advantage scoring in each fixture so far.
UAE: Omar Abdulrahman
Has been everywhere for the United Arab Emirates. The midfielder has very much pulled the strings for his side and the much wanted playmaker showed no sign of stopping despite his team going down to Iran in Brisbane.
Highlight
Japan: It’s a well-known fact that Japan play some pretty good football which is great but results are equally, if not more, important. So bearing that in mind, it is hard to go past their last group game of which they beat Jordan in front of 25,000 people. Goals from Honda and Kagawa ensured the Blue Samurai progressed to this fixture.
UAE: The highlight for the United Arab Emirates came from their first game of the group stage where they completely dismantled a Qatar side which was expected to do well. Doubles from Ahmed Khalil and Ali Mabkhout cancelled out a Khalfan Ibrahim goal for Qatar which sent the Emirates on their way.
Fixture History (Head to Head)
Played: 17. Japan: 5. Drawn: 8. U.A.E: 4.
Last Meeting: 6/9/2012. Japan 1-0 United Arab Emirates.
Probable XIs
Japan
Kawashima
Sakai, Yoshida, Morishige, Nagatomo
Hasebe
Honda, Endo, Kagawa, Inui
Okazaki.
United Arab Emirates
Naser
Sanquor, Al-Kamali, Mohamed Ahmed, Walid Abbas
Esmaeel, Amer Abdulrahmen
Mohamed Abdulrahman, Omar Abdulrahman, Ali Mabkhout
Ahmed Khalil.
Prediction
Japan to just edge it. 2-1 in extra time.
FTS Fact
These teams have played out 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss in previous Asian Cup meetings.
Image courtesy of http://japandailypress.com
