Tue, 30 Nov, -0001
Amman: Japan’s hopes of celebrating qualification for the FIFA World Cup finals were put on hold on Tuesday as Alberto Zaccheroni’s AFC Asian Cup holders lost 2-1 to Jordan in Group B of Asia’s final qualifying round for Brazil 2014.
Khalil Ateyah (pictured) gave Adnan Hamad’s side the lead before a fine solo effort by Ahmad Ibrahim set the Jordanians up for a win that sees them jump from bottom of the group to second place, six points behind Japan.
Manchester United midfielder Shinji Kagawa pulled one back for the visitors in the 69th minute but a missed penalty by Yasuhito Endo two minutes later deprived the Asian champions of the opportunity to level the scores and pick up the point needed to advance to Brazil.
A draw in either of their final two matches – against Australia at Saitama Stadium on June 4 or against Iraq in Doha a week later – will guarantee the Japanese progress while Jordan’s hopes of playing at their first ever FIFA World Cup are well and truly alive with games against Australia and Oman remaining.
“We played well, controlled the game and created many chances but we were not lucky and we couldn’t score except for the once,” said Zaccheroni.
“Jordan were lucky today and they scored two goals from the few chances that they had in the game.
“Our opponents did not change from the previous match except that their defence became better and they were strong. We missed a chance to qualify tonight and we must wait for the next match to confirm our qualification.”
The Jordanians went into the half-time break leading thanks to Ateyah’s header as the defender reacted first to Amer Deeb’s corner from the Japanese right in first-half stoppage time.
The visitors had earlier seen Ryoichi Maeda hit the crossbar with his 23rd minute header while Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima was called upon to push Ibrahim’s effort wide via the woodwork before Odai Al Saifi also forced the Belgium-based custodian into action minutes later.
Japan came out looking to level at the start of the second half and Shinji Okazaki saw his effort parried to safety by Amer Sabbah in the 57th minute but, just three minutes later, Jordan had doubled their advantage.
A mistake by Gotoku Sakai gifted possession to Deeb who fed the ball through to Ibrahim, who stormed down the right wing past Maya Yoshida before cutting back inside and clipping the ball over Kawashima having run fully 40 yards.
Kagawa halved the deficit in the 69th minute when he raced onto Hiroshi Kiyotake’s sublime flick over the home defence before slotting beyond Sabbah and, just a minute later, referee Alireza Faghani pointed to the penalty spot when Abdallah Salim brought down Atsuto Uchida in the penalty area.
Former AFC Player of the Year Endo stepped up to take the spot kick but his effort was well saved by Sabbah, diving to his left and pushing the ball around the post.
Jordan could have put the result beyond doubt only for Ibrahim’s header to be palmed clear by Kawashima in the late stages of the game, but the home side held on for a famous win that ensures all five teams in Group B retain hopes of advancing to next year’s finals.
“We had a great game today and the players followed our instructions,” said Hamad.
“Amer Shafi was a star as always and this win was a sweet revenge for us after the defeat that we had in the opening match against Japan in this round.
“The three points gives us a big push to fight for a ticket to the World Cup. The previous stage was very hard and we should expect things to be harder in the next matches. We must focus and get at least four points. This was a historic win for Jordanian football.”
Photo: AFP