SAMURAI BLUE (Japan national team) posted a 5-1 victory over Uzbekistan in the JAL CHALLENGE CUP on 31 March to give their new head coach Vahid Halilhodzic a second straight win.

The new bench boss replaced all the starting players from their Tunisia game of the 27th for the contest. KAWASHIMA Eiji was the goalkeeper, while UCHIDA Atsuto (Schalke 04), SHOJI Gen (Kashima Antlers), MORISHIGE Masato (FC Tokyo) and SAKAI Gotoku (Stuttgart) were the defenders. KONNO Yasuyuki (Gamba Osaka) and AOYAMA Toshihiro (Sanfrecce Hiroshima) played as the defensive midfielders, and midfielder KAGAWA Shinji (Borussia Dortmund), who was involved in the pair of scoring plays in the Tunisia game, forward HONDA Keisuke (AC Milan) and forward OKAZAKI Shinji (1.FSV Mainz) were slated up front. Forward INUI Takashi (Eintracht Frankfurt) took the left side spot.

Japan, who came in the game with the familiar faces in their offensive squad, pushed their opponents with their quick attacks from early. They took a lead when Aoyama netted a spectacular middle shot into the right side of the goal after the Uzbekistan goalkeeper cleared a corner kick of Kagawa with punching on sixth minute.

Okazaki, Honda and Inui had shots afterwards, capitalizing on their laterally fast attacks, and had the momentum of the game.

On 34th, Konno received the ball that was cleared by an opposing defender and fired a shot, While Kagawa launched another with his right foot to give a threat to Uzbekistan just before the first half.

For Uzbekistan, forward Bakhodir Nasimov fired a shot from the right of the box on 13th, and a minute later midfielder Lutfulla Turaev, who received a return pass in the middle, took a shot, but Japan wouldn't let them get in their goal as their defensive corps around goalkeeper Kawashima took care of them. On 42nd, Islom Tukhtakhujaev headed a shot for Uzbekistan, but the shot went outside of the goal mouth. 

Japan entred the second half, replacing Uchida with defender OTA Kosuke and Konno with defender MIZUMOTO Yuki. Ota took the left side and Sakai moved to the right side. On 54th, Japan extended their lead to 2-0 when Okazaki made a diving head shot with a cross from the left side. On 64th, forward Usami, who came in late, received a pass from Honda and dribbled up. He sent a cross to Okazaki to create a chance. On 68th, Honda headed a corner kick but it was cleared by the Uzbekistan goalkeeper.

It was 80th minute when Japan netted a goal again. Midfielder SHIBASAKI Gaku, who came in as a late substitute, robbed the ball at around the halfway line, and took a long shot looking at the Uzbekistan goalkeeper's move. The shot went in and Japan took a 3-0 lead.

For Uzbekistan, forward Zokhir Kuziboev, who came in from the second half, created some moves up front, and the team attempted to bring the momentum, but weren't able to make decisive scoring opportunities.

Uzbekistan scored a goal back when they connected a loose ball after a corner kick in front of the Japan goal and Tukhtakhujaev put it in on 82nd minute. But Japan struck again when Usami received a pass from OSAKO Yuya and dribbled past the defensive line. Usami then kicked a shot into the left side of the goal, which was his first ever on the national team.

Furthermore, forward KAWAMATA Kengo, who was sent onto the pitch late, headed a Morishige pass into the net. It was his first goal for the national Japan as well. Japan wrapped the game up with a 5-1 win.

Halilhodzic used a total of 27 players, excluding a pair of goalkeepers, in the two games combined and posted a second straight win. After the game was over, he came out onto the pitch to hug his players and celebrated the victory with a smile.

Japan will play in the second qualifier for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which will start in June. The drawing will be held on 14 April.

Comments of Head Coaches

Vahid Halilhodzic, SAMURAI BLUE (Japan National Team) Head Coach
We played a good game with a lot of goof actions, and had effective and quick attacks in the second half, Uzbekistan was a very good team and they gave us some troubles with a lot of plays. But I told our team to play as a group and keep our blocks and shoot for scoring our second and third goals with counter attacks while we made a strategic change as we would challenge battles in the air. Every scoring of ours was spectacle. Aoyama made a spectacular volley and it was a perfect technique, while Shibasaki showed a great technique as well. Okazaki didn't touch the ball there to make it a goal for Shibasaki, and it showed his way of thinking that was for the team. I think that that was the most spectacle of all.

It was very risky to use 27 players in the two games, but our players played with harmony and competitive mind-set. The players who came in from the second half scored goals. I would like to say congratulations to our players for having putting up their 100 percent. It's been a great 10 days and the preparations for these two games weren't easy, so I would like to thank so many people. It was truly a great start. But it's not that we have achieved something, so we should not make merry on this. We still have a path that we have to keep walking ahead of us.

Mirdjalal Kasimov, Uzbekistan National Team Head Coach
It was an interesting game but we are far from satisfied because we made too many mistakes. Japan played a very open and aggressive football and it made rethink that they were a strong team. I think that they raised the attacking speed than in the Asia Cup. Their tempo was fast and our middle field wasn't able to keep up with them. And you are not supposed to keep making mistakes against such a strong opponent like Japan. The first goal really hurt us. We allowed them to score from confusions towards the end too. We made some good plays at individual level, but it didn't help us score and our play level was lower than usual. Yet it was still good that I was able to see variety of plays from our players.

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Schedule

JAL CHALLENGE CUP 2015

Tue. 31 March 2015
SAMURAI BLUE (Japan National Team)  v  Uzbekistan National Team
Tokyo Stadium, Kickoff 19:25/Open 16:25
TV Broadcasting: National live broadcasting on NTV Group

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