Gamba Osaka midfielder KONNO Yasuyuki and Mainz forward OKAZAKI Shinji scored a goal apiece as SAMURAI BLUE (Japan men’s national team) capped a 2-1 victory over Australia in the 2014 Kirin Challenge Cup on 18 November. Japan have now wrapped up their final game of the year with a win and will try to notch their consecutive championship in the AFC Asia Cup in Australia next year.

The starting lineup for Japan was nearly identical from the one for their Honduras game, in which Japan crushed the opponents, four days before, but Stuttgart defender SAKAI Gotoku started in the right side back instead of Schalke's UCHIDA Atsuto and FC Tokyo's OTA Kosuke was put in the left side back.

Australia sat forward Tim Cahill and midfielder Mark Bresciano on the bench, but started eight members from this summer's FIFA World Cup as their starting men. Perhaps because they had tune up in Osaka a week prior, they looked sharp and came on aggressively against Japan from early on.

Japan struggled against Australia's pressing and weren't able to connect passes. The home side would often lose the ball in the centre field and were forced to be back on defence against Australia's short counters.

Yet on 16th minute, though it ended up being called an offside, MUTO Yoshinori of FC Tokyo headed a sharp cross from Ota, which hit the bar. A minute later, Standard Liege goalkeeper KAWASHIMA Eiji made a fine save with Matthew Leckie's powerful header.

While the game was deadlocked, Japan switched their formation from a 4-3-3 to 4-3-2-1 at some 35 minutes into it, placing ENDO Yasuhito of Gamba Osaka and HASEBE Makoto of Frankfurt at the double defensive midfielder positions and KAGAWA Shinji of Dortmund below the striker spot. Then, HONDA Keisuke of AC Milan and Kagawa threatened the opponents' goal on 39th and 40th minutes, respectively. Both shots didn't get in the goal mouth but Japan began to have more momentum on their plays.

After the two sides ended the first half with a 0-0 score, Japan sent Konno onto the pitch for Endo from the second half. On 50th, Kagawa received a pass from Konno and fired a shot.

Japan had more offensive momentum now, and Okazaki had a shot behind Australia's defensive line, though it was saved by their goalkeeper. And then, now INUI Takashi of Frankfurt came off the bench on 57th and he created some good scoring opportunities before the goal.

Japan broke the deadlock in the 61st minute, when Konno headed a loose ball following a Honda corner kick from the right into the net. It was the first goal for him to have a goal since November of 2011.

And on 68th, Japan added another. Japan had a corner kick from the left and it went to the right, then MORISHIGE Masato dribbled it into the box, and passed to Okazaki, who came in the near side. Okazaki healed it into the goal mouth. Okazaki scored his first goal under Aguirre, first on the national team since Japan's game against Colombia in the FIFA World Cup.

Afterwards, Sagan Tosu's TOYODA Yohei, who came in as a late substitute, and Honda launched shots, but Japan weren't able to extend their lead.

Australia scored one back in the stoppage time, when Cahill headed a cross from the left into the net. But Japan preserved their lead and notched a win in the very end of 2014.

Comments

Javier AGUIRRE Head Coach
We achieved our goal, which was to win this game. The opponents came on putting a lot of pressure against us in the first half, and that made us unable of connecting passes and playing comfortably. So we changed our system in the middle of the first half. Football is a game of tactics. Fortunately, we have players who can play at multiple positions, and our players who came in as substitutes both in our Honduras game and today's game showed good plays. It's always frustrating to give up goals, but at the same time they played sharp. Our defenders played well throughout the game. We have learned how we are supposed to play, intensity, concept among others in these six games and I can say we are proceeding on our team buildup as planned. Since I assumed the helm in August, we've said that we've got to win the AFC Asia Cup, and nothing's changed. We'll start our training camp for it from 29 December to get to work as the reigning champions.

MF HASEBE Makoto (Eintracht Frankfurt/Germany)
We weren't so good early on, but adjusted from there and ended up playing our own brand of ball. We changed our system in the middle and it paid off. We were able to play our rhythm. As to the AFC Asia Cup, we want do our best to repeat the title.

FW OKAZAKI Shinji (1.FSV Mainz 05/Germany)
I'd failed to score so many times by then, so I was desperately going to score. I think that spirit gave me the goal. I put it in with my spirit. We are unsatisfied that we gave up a goal in the end, but it was still huge for us to have the win. Taking advantage of this momentum, we hope to win the Asia Cup once again and want to be united to achieve that.

MF KONNO Yasuyuki (Gamba Osaka)
We are relieved to have won it. I am not a type of a guy who scores goals, so it was a reward for me to do it in a stage like this. I was able to see things better and have some effective passes today. When I and Hasebe can rotate the ball in the middle, opponents will focus on the centre of the pitch, and that gives our sides more space and we can use there. Because (Australia) are a rival for the AFC Asia Cup, we definitely wanted to beat them and it was great we did that.

DF SAKAI Gotoku (VfB Stuttgart/Germany)
I'd thought about what I wanted to do and what I was supposed to do with my teammates. I'm cooperating with Ota having conversations. I know the traits of our teammates, but in terms of how I should take communication and how they actually play, you don't really know until you actually get to play with them. I think I've had better ideas on those, and our basement as a team has established more. We haven't made a lot of changes on our squad, but our newer guys have adjusted to our tactics better and it's huge that we have been able to play as the national team. That's raised our game, so now it will be up to how much we can elaborate our team before the tournament (AFC Asia Cup).

Ange POSTECOGLOU Head Coach of Australia National Team
We knew it'd be a tough match. We overwhelmed them in the first half, but gave up the momentum as we allowed the first goal in the second half. After the second goal to Japan, it became more like a one-sided contest and it made it difficult for us to rally back. We had some good moments like in the early, but we weren't as elaborate and played a little too roughly. Having played in front of the full-house crowd at away alone, it was a tough situation for our younger players. I think our team learned that they have to play accurately with concentrations, otherwise they would have to pay some damage.

JFA-TV

Kirin Challenge Cup 2014

Tue. 18 November 2014    SAMURAI BLUE(Japan National Team) vs Australia National Team
Yanmar Stadium Nagai/Osaka Kickoff 19:20(plan)/Open 16:20(plan)
TV Broadcast: National live broadcast on FUJI TV

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