Blue Samurai in Hong Kong

With vuvuzelas still ringing in their ears from their weekend jaunt to South Africa, Japan eased closer to Asian Cup qualification with a 4-0 win in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

The result kept Japan on top of the Group A table ahead of Bahrain, although having played a game more. Bahrain bounced back from their heartbreaking encounter with New Zealand by hammering Yemen 4-0 at home in Manama.

Hong Kong put up a decent fight, offering some stubborn resistance and held out until the 32nd minute when Makoto Hasebe put the Blue Samurai ahead.

Unlike in the reverse encounter in Shimizu in October when Japan inflicted a 6-0 hammering, Hong Kong this time kept resolute in defence despite a few close calls late in the first half.

In fact they held out until the 74th minute when Hisato Sato’s header extended the visitor’s lead. This ended any hopes Hong Kong may have had of snatching an unlikely point against one of Asia’s powerhouses, and two more goals were added late on from Espanyol’s Shunsuke Nakamura with a trademark free-kick, and an injury time penalty from Shinji Okazaki, after the striker himself had been fouled.

This brought Okazaki’s goal haul for 2009 to an incredible 15 goals. Ok, so a number of these were against sub-standard opposition, but the Shimizu S-Pulse striker has built a fabulous reputation in the J-League and now for the national team. Whether he can step up and perform when it really matters in the World Cup next summer is another matter, but 15 goals in one year for an international striker is no mean feat.

In typical polite Japanese fashion, the coach Takeshi Okada commented that “Hong Kong played a wonderful game and competed hard” and also “We owe our performance to the great competitiveness of the Hong Kong team”.

While this may be heaping a bit too much praise on their hosts, it does show the determination with which Hong Kong tried to hold out. He also praised his own team’s patience in overcoming a lesser opponent who was fighting hard defensively.

Japan’s next qualifier is in Yemen on 6th January, in which a win would guarantee their qualification for Qatar 2011. A greater indication of Japan’s progress will come with friendlies next February with China and South Korea as the build up to the World Cup kicks in to gear.

Current Group A Standings: (Top 2 qualify)
Pl. W D L F-A Pts.
Japan 4 3 0 1 12-2 9
Bahrain 3 3 0 0 8-1 9
Yemen 3 1 0 2 2-6 3
Hong Kong 4 0 0 4 1-14 0