Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Saitama: Keisuke Honda scored a hat-trick as a four-goal first-half salvo saw Japan ease to a 6-0 win over 10-man Jordan at Saitama Stadium in Group B of the final round of qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup on Friday evening.
Alberto Zaccheroni’s team were in imperious form once again just days after their demolition of Oman to maintain their perfect start to the final phase of qualifying for Brazil 2014.
The Japanese will now go into their meeting with Australia in Brisbane on Tuesday knowing a win in Queensland will put them in the ideal position to secure a place at a fifth straight FIFA World Cup finals.
Honda’s hat-trick was complimented by goals from Ryoichi Maeda, Shinji Kagawa and Yuzo Kurihara while Jordan’s hopes were hit just before the half-hour mark when Abdallah Deeb was sent-off.
“Honda had been away from the national team for 10 months. I want him not to be satisfied with his performance today and make up for that loss and score more goals,” said Zaccheroni.
“Going into this game, I told our players not to be conceited after we had won the game against Oman and I gave them some instructions for this game and they executed them well on the pitch.
“We knew Jordan as we had played them at the AFC Asian Cup, and they again were strong physically and mentally. I was impressed with their never give up attitude they showed late in the game although the game had been decided by then. They were very combative, and I respect them very much.
“When you have a 2-0 lead early in the game, you tend to relax and sit back, but this team didn’t do that and they went on attacking. They did what I always tell them – play the game like they do at 0-0.
“When you look at the score, you may think it was an easy game for us, but it wasn’t. Our players made it easier with their efforts.”
Maeda put Japan on the way to the win in the 18th minute when he rose above the Jordanian defence to meet Honda’s corner, and the Jubilo Iwata striker directed the ball past Amer Sabbah with his shoulder.
Just three minutes later, Honda doubled his side’s lead when he raced onto a sublime pass by Yasuhito Endo before stroking the ball into the bottom corner with his left foot.
Jordan’s hopes of claiming anything from the game took a major blow in the 27th minute when Deeb was sent-off by referee Kim Dong-jin after an aerial challenge with Japan captain Makoto Hasebe.
The Japanese capitalised soon after when Endo – who was unusually quiet in Japan’s 3-0 win over Oman on Sunday – flicked the ball through to Shinji Okazaki, whose pass across the face of goal was tucked away by Honda from close range.
With 10 minutes remaining in the half, Manchester United-bound Kagawa made it 4-0 when he side-footed the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the area as the half went from bad to worse for Adnan Hamad’s side.
Jordan, despite the four-goal deficit, started the second half in positive fashion with Saeed Morjan and Odai Al Saify going close to testing Eiji Kawashima in the Japanese goal.
However, eight minutes into the half, Honda was given the chance to complete his hat-trick when Maeda was brought down by Khalil Bani Ateyah and the CSKA Moscow man made no mistake from the spot.
With such a commanding advantage, the intensity of the tempo of Japan’s play dropped slightly but the difference in the teams remained significant and, with only a minute remaining, substitute Kurihara added the sixth with a towering header to steer Yuto Nagatomo’s cross beyond Sabbah.
“It turned out to be a difficult game for us as I had expected. We lost one man after 22 minutes with a red card, and that has affected us so much. In addition, we obviously committed too many errors in our play,” said Jordan coach Adnan Hamad.
“Japan are in top form, probably because they are in the middle of their season and they played so comfortably. But we had to travel from the west and our players were suffering from fatigue following their long season.
“We drew with Iraq because they were in the similar situation with us. It seems that the teams in the west are in a difficult situation.
“We made so many mistakes and lost our balance after the sending off. We improved that problem early in the second half, but Japan scored again with a penalty. It is a big job to play against a strong team like Japan for 70 minutes with 10 men.
“I think Japan had more time to prepare for this game, while we had a short period of time for preparation. Plus, we had fatigue, too many mistakes and one red card and that was the difference between the game today and the one at the AFC Asian Cup.
“For our next game against Australia, we want to improve the accuracy of our play. Since we have three months to go to that game, we can have better preparation. Our players can take a rest too.”
While Jordan must wait until September 11 to entertain Australia, Japan now travel to Brisbane to face the Socceroos on Tuesday.
“I have some information on them but it’s still too soon to talk about Australia as my head is still with today’s game,” added Zaccheroni.
“However, if we can play like we are doing at the moment at a fast tempo, I am convinced that we can play well not only against Australia but any team.”