Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Doha: Iraq’s hopes of qualifying for a second FIFA World Cup finals came to an end at Al Arabi Stadium on Tuesday when Vladimir Petrovic’s side slipped to a 1-0 defeat against all-ready qualified Japan.
The 2007 AFC Asian Cup winners needed to pick up all three points to keep the pressure on Oman and Jordan in the battle for third place in Group B but the loss – by virtue of a late goal from Shinji Okazaki – means Iraq cannot finish any higher than fourth, even if they defeat Australia in their final game next week.
Iraq battled valiantly and had to play for the final eight minutes with 10 men when Alaa Abdul Zahraa was sent off for a second yellow card offence when he kicked Masahiko Inoha in the head in an attempt at an acrobatic overhead shot.
“The match was tough as we faced a strong team, one of the top teams in Asia,” said Iraq coach Petrovic.
“The players were under great pressure to have a good performance and get a good result in order to maintain our chances to qualify to the World Cup.
“We had a good start and controlled proceedings but without any real danger. We had some scoring chances but we were not lucky.”
With qualification already assured and with one eye on their participation in the FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil next week, Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni made five changes to his starting line-up.
Ryoichi Maeda, Keisuke Honda, Atsuto Uchida, Maya Yoshida and Makoto Hasebe all made way, to be replaced by Mike Havenaar, Hiroshi Kiyotake, Hiroki Sakai, Hajime Hosogai and Masahiko Inoha.
Iraq, meanwhile, started with veteran midfielder Nashat Akram on the bench as Petrovic continued to look for the right balance between his team’s experienced campaigners and the youngsters needed to regenerate the team.
The Iraqis started brightly with Hammadi Ahmed heading just wide from a corner but the Japanese soon started to exert their influence on the game.
Okazaki saw his deflected effort well saved by Noor Sabri while Havenaar steered his header of Kiyotake’s cross just wide of the post. Yasuyuki Konno then had time to turn and shoot in the penalty area, only for the ball to go over the bar.
With the Iraqis needing to win to keep their hopes of a first FIFA World Cup appearance since 1986, they came out in a more purposeful frame of mind in the second half.
Ali Adnan saw his long-range effort well saved by Eiji Kawashima while, in the 69th minute, Zahraa had time to turn and shoot after a bad mistake by the Japanese defence, but the effort – arguably Iraq’s best to score in the game – was just over the bar.
Zahraa’s sending off made the task even more difficult for the Iraqis and, with just two minutes remaining, the Japanese broke with Yasuhito Endo rolling the ball into the path of Okazaki, who scored at full stretch to snuff out Iraq’s FIFA World Cup hopes as Japan finished their own campaign on a high with another win.
“The game wasn’t easy because we made several changes in our squad today,” said Zaccheroni.
“We tried our best to take advantage of the match and I’m glad that we finished the qualifiers with a win tonight.
“We tried our best to stop our opponents who controlled the midfield in the early minutes and we knew how to deal with the match in order to get the three points, which will give us motivation before the forthcoming matches.”
Photo: AFP