Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Osaka: A brace from striker Milan Duric saw Bosnia-Herzegovina beat Japan 2-1 on Tuesday to claim the 2016 Kirin Cup title.
Japan, who had sealed their spot in the final courtesy of a 7-2 semi-final thrashing of Bulgaria, looked to be on course for another victory when Hannover 96 star Hiroshi Kiyotake finished neatly on 28 minutes following Takashi Usami’s fine run and cross.
The Samurai Blue’s lead was, however, only to last a mere sixty seconds as Duric opened his account by reacting first and smashing home the rebound after Armin Hodzic's header had been saved by Japan goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa
Duric duly sealed the win for the visiting European side when he latched onto Miroslav Stefanovic's astute 66th minute pass before slotting the ball past the onrushing Nishikawa.
The tournament, which saw Denmark beat Bulgaria to claim third place, had not been held since 2011, when Japan won the competition for the 11th time.
Japan will resume their qualifying campaign for the 2018 FIFA World Cup on September 1 when they renew acquaintances with the United Arab Emirates, who knocked them out of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup at the quarter-final stage, before facing Thailand in Bangkok five days later.
In addition to the 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and the Thais, who have yet to qualify for world football’s biggest tournament, Japan will face AFC Cup holders Australia, 2007 continental champions Iraq, and four-time FIFA World Cup participants Saudi Arabia in Group B of the final round of Asian qualifiers for Russia ’18.
The winner and runner-up of Groups A and B will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia finals while the third-placed teams of each group will advance to the Asian Play-off Round, with the victorious side taking on the team that finishes fourth in the fifth round of the CONCACAF qualifiers in a two-legged inter-confederation play-off.