Asian Cup group stage continues, and a focus battle in Group D begins. The Japanese men's football team faces the Iraqi men's football team. This is a battle for first place in the group. In the end, the Iraqi team won the game with an unexpected score of 2-1. The result of this game was a super upset. They won all 2 rounds and scored 6 points. The Iraqi team qualified and became the Qatar and Australian teams. The third qualifying team. The Japanese team's 11-game winning streak ended, and Moriyasu's face turned green. The Japanese team conceded 4 goals in 2 games, and its defense was not as good as the national football team! In addition, the Japanese team also ended its 9-game winning streak in the Asian Cup group stage and its 25-game unbeaten streak in the group stage. Three major records were ended!
The goal of the Japanese team in the Asian Cup is to win the Asian Cup. In this regard, Mori Yasuichi has emphasized many times that from the perspective of paper strength, this East Asian team is indeed the most luxurious team in the Asian Cup. In the group stage, Japan's opponents include Iraq, Vietnam and Indonesia. If nothing else goes wrong, the Japanese team will easily advance to the top 16, but Mori Yasuichi needs to face the defensive problem. After all, facing the Vietnamese team, the Japanese team only conceded 2 goals and performed poorly on the defensive end.
Although not as strong as the Japanese team, the strength of the Iraqi team still cannot be underestimated. In the 5th minute of the game, the Iraqi team scored. Saiin scored with a header in front of the goal. The referee confirmed that the goal was valid. Iraq's hero knelt down to celebrate. Hussein helped the team lead the powerful Japanese team 1-0. I have to say that this kind of start was something that many people did not expect.
In the stoppage time of the first half, the Japanese team's defense once again had problems. Yahia made a wonderful breakthrough on the left, and then passed to the goal. Hussein scored with a header, and the score came to 2-0. The Iraqi team already took a 2-goal lead and entered the halftime break with a huge advantage. According to the data in the first half, the Iraqi team completed 5 shots and 3 of them were on target. The Japanese team had 3 shots and 0 of them were on target. This shows that Mori Yasuichi's team's offensive efficiency is very poor.
In the 63rd minute of the game, the Japanese team launched an attack from the right. Ritsu Donyasu got a chance in the penalty area and his low shot with his left foot was blocked by the defensive player. Then, Japanese player Takumi Minamino made a pass from the right and the Iraqi goalkeeper got the ball. In the 67th minute, the Iraqi team got a chance in the counterattack. Ali stopped the ball in the penalty area, and then shot slightly wide, missing the opportunity to rewrite the score again.
As the game progressed, Japanese team coach Moriyasu became anxious and made continuous substitution adjustments. At the 74th minute, 5 people had been substituted. On the other hand, the leading Iraqi team also completed all substitutions. The team's focus is to strengthen defense. Although the Japanese players worked hard, they still lost. In the 93rd minute, Endo Hang scored a header and the Japanese team lost 1-2!
