Saitama: A Hotaru Yamaguchi goal in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time handed Japan a crucial 2-1 win over Iraq in the Russia 2018 Asian Qualifiers Third Round in front of a sold-out crowd at Saitama Stadium.
In a battle that pitted two of the past three AFC Asian Cup champions Japan took a 26th minute lead when Genki Haraguchi’s smart flick found its way through the legs of Mohammed Hameed and that was the way the scored stayed until the break.
Saad Abdulamir’s header from a 60th minute free-kick levelled the tie and just when it looked as though things would end all square, a free-kick from the left found its way to an unmarked Yamaguchi who – on the same day he celebrated his 26th birthday - drove home a shot from the edge of the box to spark wild celebrations.
"We couldn’t play beautiful or clean football today and the rhythm wasn’t there as we wanted but matches like this require mental strength and courage and in the end we shot and we won and this is an important part of football," said Japan coach Vahid Halilhodzic.
"It was Hotaru's birthday today and I said to him if he scores then I’ll give him a glass of champagne; I think now he and the team deserves to drink two glasses of champagne.
"I can’t say that the match was a good one and can’t say that the team’s performance was excellent but that was what I was looking for and I know the kind of physical condition they are in and that’s why I kept saying to have courage is important and I’m happy that led to the win tonight against a very good Iraq team."
The visitors made a strong start with the influential Abdulamir seeing his header from an Ali Adnan free-kick hit the post in just the third minute before Japan started to assert some pressure in an opening period that was marked by several stoppages.
Hiroshi Kiyotake, starting in place of Shinji Kagawa, was a dominant figure throughout and after seeing his 11th minute shot parried away sharply by Hameed he played a key part in putting Japan ahead in the 26th minute.
With Keisuke Honda breaking free down the right he played a short pass to Kiyotake who provided a well-weighted ball which Haraguchi smartly fired through the legs of Hameed to put the hosts in front.
Both teams had decent chances thereafter; the best falling to Iraq captain Alaa Abdul Zahra in stoppage time when his volley produced a sharp save from Shusaku Nishikawa but Japan’s lead remained intact at the break.
A quiet opening quarter hour after the restart was brought to life on the hour mark when Iraq drew level from a set piece that stunned the home crowd.
With Iraq awarded a free-kick midway inside the Japan half, Ahmed Yasin whipped a ball in from the left that saw Abdulamir rise above several defenders to power home a header into the far corner to lock things up.
Kiyotake saw a free-kick sail just wide nine minutes later before Honda had an 80th minute header shave the outside of the post.
Iraq kept pushing for a second as the match wore down with Japan also seeing several half chances on the counter but with six minutes of stoppage time added the hosts had one final chance after five of those minutes had been played.
With a free-kick awarded to the left, right near the corner flag, Kiyotake swung his effort in and the ball found its way to second-half substitute Yamaguchi who was all alone at the top of the box.
The midfielder, who plays his club football with Cerezo Osaka, drove home a powerful shot that found its way through a mass of players in the box to seal the 2-1 win.
"I think we played a well balanced game, no team can play at the same level for 90 minutes and we just couldn’t utilise the chances we had and Japan had speed and they used that well, so we needed to convert the chances we had," said Iraq coach Radhi Shenaishil.
"Today was an extremely tough match against a strong Japanese team but I feel that we played a good match and we were hoping that we may have been able to take a draw but in the end we suffered another loss."
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