MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE(2nd) - JAPAN

  

Japan downs Syria 3-0 in World Cup qualifier

Japan swept past Syria 3-0 in neutral Oman on Thursday to seize top spot in second-round Group E in Asian qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Syria 0 Japan 3: Honda, Okazaki and Usami strike to claim top spot

Second-half goals from Keisuke Honda, Shinji Kagawa and Takashi Usami secured a 3-0 win for Japan over Syria in Muscat.

Japan moved to the top of Group E in the Asian World Cup qualifying section, unseating Syria with a confident 3-0 victory in Muscat.

Vahid Halilhodzic's were frustrated during a goalless first-half but Keisuke Honda broke the deadlock with a 55th minute penalty.

Leicester City striker Shinji Okazaki led the visiting attack impressively and doubled the advantage following excellent work by Borussia Dortmund playmaker Shinji Kagawa.

Substitute Takashi Usami completed the scoring two minutes from time as Japan moved on to 10 point – one better off than their game opponents.

Syria began with a confidence befitting of group leaders and Japan's Inter defender Yuto Nagatomo was forced into a pair of important clearances.

Japan began to establish control of possession by midway through the first half and Nagatomo made sure his presence was felt in the other half of the field – breaking down the left and crossing for Okazaki to send a deflected header wide.

Okazaki enjoyed Japan's best opening of the first half in the 26th minute but dragged a miss-hit shot wide of the far post before Syria's Mahmoud Al Mawas launched an audacious 40-yard attempt.

Al Mawas was in a more productive mood as half-time approached, threading a fine throughball for Abdelrazaq Al Hussain to shoot wide on the angle.

An acrobatic header from Syria defender Ahmad Alsalih prevented Okazaki from opening the scoring but Japan's pressure eventually told 10 minutes into the second half.

The Leicester man went down under a challenge from Syria goalkeeper Ibrahim Almeh, who was then powerless as Honda confidently stroked home.

Almeh was out sharply to deny Okazaki before the striker got the goal his efforts deserved in the 70th minute.

Kagawa brilliantly skipped past a pair of desperate challenges, bursting into the left-hand side of the box to leave Okazaki with a tap in.

Syria visibly tired in the closing stages and there was a picture-book third for Japan – Honda's audacious backheel setting up Usami to fire home and seal the points.

The verve with which Usami tore into the Syrian defence was the last thing they needed and he sped through to drill wide in stoppage time.

World Cup qualifying: Japan beats war-hit Syria

Asian powerhouse wins Thursday's match 3-0

A brutal civil war, bombed-out towns and hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing in terror.

It's against that backdrop that Syria has been bidding to reach the World Cup for the first time in its history.

After three consecutive wins over Afghanistan, Singapore and Cambodia, the war-torn nation was beaten 3-0 by Asian powerhouse Japan Thursday.

Normally Syria would play its matches in Aleppo, a city which has had "the life bombed out of it." Instead, this game was staged 3,000 kilometers away in the Omani city of Seeb.

The defeat meant Syria lost top spot in Group E of the Asian qualifying section.

There are eight five-team groups in the section, with each team playing home and away fixtures against the other teams in its group.

The eight group winners and four runners-up advance to a final stage, contested by two six-team groups.

Playing in temperatures of over 91 degrees Fahrenheit, four-time Asian champions Japan -- ranked 55 in the world by FIFA -- struggled to break down Syria in the first half.

After the restart, A.C. Milan star Keisuke Honda and Leicester City striker Shinji Okazaki scored in a 15-minute period before Takashi Usami 's late goal wrapped up a 3-0 win for Japan.

The result means Japan leapfrog Syria at the top of Group E.

Despite this defeat, Syria is well placed to advance to the next stage of qualifying -- it has nine points from four matches and is two points ahead of third-place Singapore.

Ranked 123rd in the world, Syria has thrashed both Afghanistan, ranked 27 places higher, and Cambodia 6-0 on the road. It also beat Singapore 1-0 in front of 100 fans at the Sultan Quaboos Stadium in the Omani city of Muscat in September.

Protests against the government and President Bashar al-Assad in 2011 plunged Syria into a chaotic war which is still raging today.

Fighter jets announced Russia's arrival on the ever-growing list of nations who have bombed Syria when it launched airstrikes on Wednesday.

A coalition of countries led by the U.S. have been bombing ISIS targets on a near-daily basis since last September, in the hopes of rooting out the terror group from its strongholds in the country.

But Russia's involvement marks a new and uncertain chapter in a war that has now killed more than 250,000 people since 2011 and displaced 10.6 million people from home -- about half of Syria's pre-war population.

According to James Dorsey, the author of the "Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer", Assad uses the soccer team to give the regime "a degree of prestige."

He told The Guardian it shows "a sense of normality amid the mayhem."

Syria's next fixture see it welcome Afghanistan to its temporary home. A fixture would put its qualification campaign back on track.


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MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE(2nd)

Silva’s heroics lift Albirex to win over Gamba in first leg

NIIGATA – Brazilian forward Rafael Silva came off the bench to strike a last-gasp winner as 10-man Albirex Niigata edged holders Gamba Osaka 2-1 in the first leg of their Nabisco Cup semifinal on Wednesday night.

Gamba took the lead through Kotaro Omori before Kosuke Yamamoto made it all square with a fine effort nine minutes before halftime at the Big Swan.

Niigata striker Leo Silva was dismissed midway through the second half but his namesake snatched victory in the 90th minute.

Gamba also finished the game with 10 men as Kim Jung-ya picked up a second booking in the fourth minute of injury time.

“I thought it was a scene that would decide the game and I just wanted to put the ball away. I am happy that I could contribute to the team’s win,” said Rafael Silva.

“We wanted to go into Sunday’s second leg with a good result from tonight and I am glad we were able to do that. It was tough being a man down against a team like Gamba, but everyone stuck to their jobs, both in attack and defense and that led to our goal on the counterattack.”

In the other semifinal, goals from Kazuya Yamamura and Shuhei Akasaki put five-time champions Kashima Antlers in control ahead of Sunday’s second leg with a 2-1 win at Vissel Kobe.

Making its first appearance in the semifinals, Niigata should have taken the lead in the 27th minute, but Ryohei Yamazaki squandered the best chance of the first half after doing all the hard work.

Yamazaki picked the ball up just inside the Gamba half and held off four defenders, but with only the Gamba goalkeeper to beat, shot straight at Yosuke Fujigaya.

Takahiro Futagawa nearly punished Yamazaki for that miss two minutes later, his free kick bringing a fine save out of Tatsuya Morita.

Gamba, coming off back-to-back defeats in the Asian Champions League and J. League, drew first blood in the 33rd minute.

Omori, one of only two Gamba players in the team who started in Sunday’s 5-3 loss to Kawasaki Frontale, got his head on the end of Hiroki Fujiharu’s pinpoint cross from the left to tuck the ball away, but Niigata hit back moments later as Yamamoto took a pass from Michael Fitzgerald and turned Futagawa inside out before firing past Fujigaya.

Niigata started the second half with renewed purpose. Kazunari Ono went close before Leo Silva’s free kick bounced off teammate Yamamoto in the Gamba wall and came crashing back off the cross bar in the 53rd minute.

Leo Silva needlessly got himself sent off in the 66th minute after tangling with a Gamba player and as a result will miss the second leg.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, Niigata won it as Rafael Silva took a pass from Takanori Maeno and beat Keisuke Iwashita before drilling into the right corner of the net.

The final will be held at Saitama Stadium 2002 on Oct. 31
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Rafael Silva fires Albirex on verge of fulfilling Nabisco Cup final dream

Rafael Silva netted the winner in Albirex Niigata’s 2-1 win over Gamba Osaka in Wednesday’s first leg of the Yamazaki Nabisco Cup semi-final - a fixture that saw both sides finish with 10 men.

Albirex are targeting their first ever appearance in the final of the competition, and immediately showed their ambitions as Ryohei Yamazaki went on a brilliant run from the halfway line, beating two players before seeing his low shot parried by Yosuke Fujigaya. 

It was opposite number Tatsuya Morita’s turn to produce a smart stop on Takahiro Futagawa’s free-kick, but the Albirex custodian could do little to prevent Kotaro Omori’s perfect header from going in in the 36th minute.

The hosts immediately went level thanks to Kosuke Yamamoto’s excellent display of footwork inside the Gamba box, the winger turning his man before lashing in his team’s equaliser.

Yamazaki’s pace and directness continued to threaten Gamba’s rearguard, and Yamamoto almost capitalised on a free-kick his team-mate had earned when Leo Silva shot took a deflection of him in the wall, before cannoning off the bar.

The midfielder’s good work was undone when he was sent off after being caught deliberately hacking at Shu Kurata’s ankle.

But just when Albirex would have been content hanging on for the draw, Rafael Silva - who had endured terrible luck with injuries to this point - went through on goal before side-footing home the winner to spark wild celebrations from the home team’s bench.

Masaaki Yanagishita’s men will travel to Saitama Stadium on Saturday hoping to fulfill their dreams of progressing to their maiden Nabisco Cup final against the holders, who must do without Kim Jung-ya after he was expelled for his second booking on Wednesday.

Vissel woes deepen as Antlers seal Nabisco Cup win

Kazuya Yamamura and Shuhei Akasaki struck to lift Kashima Antlers to a 2-1 win at Vissel Kobe in the first leg of the Yamazaki Nabisco Cup semi-finals on Wednesday.

Matasada Ishii’s men seized the initiative in the opening stages and always looked in control against their hosts, who were on a torrid run of form entering the fixture and had just lost to the same opponents in their league clash last Saturday.

Antlers’ early pressure paid off when Yamamura opened the scoring in the 21st minute, firing his daisy-cutter through a crowd of players in the box.

The visitors did endure a scare when Hitoshi Sogahata dropped a ball at Leandro’s feet shortly afterwards, but the Brazilian could only turn against the post.

Instead, their nerves eased when Akasaki produced a tidy finish to double his side’s lead, although he was later guilty of giving away the ball in the action that led up to Vissel’s consolation goal.

Half-time substitute Michihiro Yasuda made the impact Nelsinho desired, robbing the forward before crossing for Takuya Iwanami to net with a towering header.

However, there would be no comeback for Vissel, who next travel to Kashima Stadium for the second leg on Sunday needing to win by at least two clear goals if they are to progress to the final.

Former J.Leaguer Ueno joins Urawa Reds youth staff

Urawa Reds on Tuesday announced former Albirex Niigata striker Yusaku Ueno had been added to the club’s academy staff.

The 41-year-old Tochigi native notably represented the Denka Big Swan Stadium outfit as well as Avispa Fukuoka over the course of his 14-year playing career.

Ueno also enjoyed two separate spells at Sanfrecce Hiroshima, while representing Kyoto Sanga and former Japan Football League side Tochigi SC.

Upon retiring, he served Tochigi as an assistant coach and then as their head coach until September, before being confirmed as a member of the Reds’ staff.

MEIJI YASUDA J1 LEAGUE(2nd)

Standings		Club	Pts	Game
1	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	28	13
2	Kashima Antlers	Kashima Antlers	28	13
3	F.C.Tokyo	F.C.Tokyo	24	13
4	Urawa Reds	Urawa Reds	24	13
5	Kawasaki Frontale	Kawasaki Frontale	23	13
6	Kashiwa Reysol	Kashiwa Reysol	23	13
7	Yokohama F･Marinos	Yokohama F･Marinos	22	13
8	Gamba Osaka	Gamba Osaka	22	13
9	Shonan Bellmare	Shonan Bellmare	17	13
10	Nagoya Grampus	Nagoya Grampus	17	13
11	Albirex Niigata	Albirex Niigata	16	13
12	Vissel Kobe	Vissel Kobe	13	13
13	Ventforet Kofu	Ventforet Kofu	13	13
14	Sagan Tosu	Sagan Tosu	12	13
15	Matsumoto Yamaga F.C.	Matsumoto Yamaga F.C.	12	13
16	Montedio Yamagata	Montedio Yamagata	10	13
17	Vegalta Sendai	Vegalta Sendai	9	13
18	Shimizu S-Pulse	Shimizu S-Pulse	8	13