Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Sydney: Yuto Nagatomo is hoping Shinji Kagawa’s first goal of the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 will fire the Borussia Dortmund midfielder onto a run of goal-scoring form as Japan continue the defence of their title against the United Arab Emirates on Friday evening.
Former Manchester United midfielder Kagawa scored Japan’s second in their 2-0 win over Jordan in their final Group D game in Melbourne on Tuesday, the first time he has found the back of the net since before the FIFA World Cup finals in Brazil last June.
And Nagatomo was the first Japanese player to congratulate his close friend after his shot was fumbled over the line by Jordanian goalkeeper Amer Shafi in a win that ensured Japan qualified for the quarter-finals at the top of their group with a 100 per cent record.
Match highlights: Japan 2-0 Jordan
“Shinji is our number 10 and the ace of the Japan national team, so I think he was feeling a lot of pressure when he wasn't scoring,” said the Inter Milan left back. “That was a very difficult time for him.
“I saw he was happy when he scored this goal and that made me happy from the bottom of my heart. I hope he can come up from under that pressure and score more goals, and I’ll support him however I can.”
Japan go into the game against the Group C runners-up with only two days’ rest but coach Javier Aguirre does not feel the shorter recovery period will have a significant impact on his team’s ability to perform against the 2013 Gulf Cup winners.
“We have not been looking at any special details relating to the short time of preparation,” said the Mexican coach. “We have only had two days and the players are not completely recovered because the intensity of the last game was high.
“But we expect the players will be 100 percent recovered to play with intensity and have a speedy game. We had light training yesterday and today to recover the players and tomorrow we will see a game with a lot of ups and downs.
“I didn’t have any preference who we play, it’s a quarter-final and we just follow the calendar and play against the team in front of us. The UAE have some good players, there are three or four players who can play well with the ball and the goalkeeper is good. It’s not fair to name them, but they are a competitive team.”
Japan have a slight doubt over the availability of Masato Morishige, who received a blow to the face in the win over the Jordanians, but Aguirre is confident his team will advance to the semi-finals for the fifth AFC Asian Cup in a row.
“The doctor hasn’t reported to me that Morishige is out of the next game,” said Aguirre. “I believe he can play, but if he can’t play we will have players who can play and we’ll still do well.
“The team is not only defending just from the defence, but we defend as a team and if we want to keep a clean sheet we have to play with intensity to fight in this game.
“We start from zero now and all eight teams in the quarter-finals are in the same position, with the ambition to win these games. We have to play for 90 minutes with full concentration and with the aim to win. We respect our opponent, but we are strong enough to win the game.”
Photo: WSG