Japan finished top of Group B after cruising 2-0 past Qatar in their AFC U23 Asian Cup tie last night in Saudi Arabia. United Arab Emirates joined them in the quarter-finals from the group despite being held to a 1-1 stalemate by Syria .
Japan, the defending champions, led from start to finish with goals from Shusuke Furuya and Ryunosuke Sato for a perfect record and will face Jordan in the quarter-finals.
Japan head coach Go Oiwa retained just three players from the side that beat the United Arab Emirates 3-0, while Qatar also rang in the changes with Ilidio Vale making five.
Having already secured their quarter-final berth with a match to spare, Japan dictated the tempo from the outset with Tokumo Kawai, Yudai Shimamoto and Haruta Kume all seeing their efforts thwarted.
Kawai went close in the 26th minute with his curling free-kick well saved by Qatar keeper Amir Hassan before Yutaka Michiwaki had his headed attempt ruled out three minutes later.
Japan’s aggressive approach finally paid off at the half-hour mark when Shusuke Furuya rose highest to nod home Kaito Koizumi’s cross from the right.
Shimamoto came close to doubling Japan’s advantage in the 51st minute when Shuto Nagano set up the Shimizu S-Pulse midfielder, only to see his stinging shot from distance saved by Hassan.
Qatar almost fell further behind in the 77th minute but Shimamoto was denied by the left post before Japan ramped up the pressure with Ryunosuke Sato pouncing on a calamitous pass from Hassan to slot past the Qatar custodian three minutes later.
Japan pushed for a third with Kawai seeing his shot saved by Hassan in the 84th, while Shimamoto missed a sitter in stoppage time after hitting over the bar.
UAE draw against Syria saw both teams tied on four points each with UAE advancing on a superior goal difference record to set up a meeting with Vietnam on Friday.
It was a positive start to the game for both sides with UAE’s Hazim Abbas curling a free-kick just wide before Anas Dahhan found Mahmoud Alaswad in the box but the Syria captain slipped at the crucial moment and the chance was gone.
The end-to-end action continued with Ali Al Memari’s glancing header saved by Maksim Sarraf while at the other end, Dahhan’s deflected shot drew a fantastic reaction save from Khaled Tawhid.
UAE found the opener in the 23rd minute when Ahmad Faqa’s back pass to Sarraf was intercepted by Mansoor Almenhali who set up Al Memari for an easy tap-in.
Syria looked to respond – most notably through Alaswad – who weaved into the box but his low strike was read by Tawhid with the score unchanged at the half-time whistle.
A refreshed Syria appeared for the second half, Mohammad Almustafa’s 53rd minute header forcing Tawhid to make a fine save but it was only a matter of time before the equaliser came.
Two minutes after that, Syria were back on level terms with Hozan Osman’s cross from the left sidefooted home by Mahmoud Alomar.
Unfortunately for Syria, that was the best they could muster with UAE keeping them at bay for the remainder of the match to go through to the last eight.
