AFC U23 Asian Cup
Yellow cards for Seiji Kimura and Kuryu Matsuki in the opening 45 minutes prompted Oiwa into a half-time change, withdrawing Matsuki for Shuto Fujio and the former Kashima Antlers boss felt his decision to rejig the line-up could have unsettled his players.
While Japan had taken a second minute lead through Fuki Yamada, Ahmed Al Rawi had levelled the scores before Yousef Abdullah’s 41st minute sending off gave Oiwa’s side a numerical advantage going into the break.
#AFCU23 | Q-Final : Qatar 2 - 4 Japan
“We know there was not only a yellow card for Kimura, but also for Matsuki and at halftime we spoke about the second half plan,” said Oiwa. “This plan may have caused the second goal from the Qatar side but fortunately we could win.”
The Qataris netted four minutes after the restart when Jassem Gaber headed past Leo Kokubo but a 67th minute equaliser from Kimura took the game into extra-time, where the Japanese eventually prevailed through goals from Mao Hosoya and Kotaro Uchida.
“We have 23 players in our squad and I believe every player has good qualities,” said Oiwa.
“They are high quality players in our team and we have seen that, not only in this match, but in the matches in Group B. Everyone has a good tactical understanding and I’m proud of them all.
“We have scored four goals today and in football it’s difficult to score four goals in one match. This happened because one of their players was sent off, but if we consider this situation four goals was not enough.
“At the other end we conceded two goals in this game so we have to consider this for the next match, to be careful.”
The result takes the Japanese into the semi-finals and moves them a step closer to winning the title for the first time since 2016 as well as maintaining their record of qualifying for every Olympic Games football tournament since 1996.
Oiwa’s side will take on either Iraq or Vietnam in the last four, with that pair due to meet at Al Janoub Stadium on Friday, and Kimura admitted he was relieved he and his teammates had progressed.
“Fortunately we now have the opportunity to move forward to the next match and we will be playing for a place at the Olympic Games,” said the defender, who was named player of the match.
“We know that even though we had 11 players and Qatar had 10 there was a lack of goals from our side so we will prepare for the next match and we will try our best.”
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