TOSU (Japan): Japan stamped their mark on Malaysia in the opening Asian Olympic Qualifier third round Group C match with a dominant 2-0 win at the Tosu Stadium yesterday as a bloodbath was averted by goalkeeper Khairul Fahmi Che Mat's heroics and some desperate defending.
As hard as the Malaysians tried, Japan showed why they are favourites to clinch a direct Olympic spot with a performance that left the visitors chasing shadows all night.
The home team should have had more reward than just Keigo Higashi's 10th-minute goal but skipper Fahmi proved to be a major stumbling block in front of a disbelieving full-house crowd of 22,504.
Japan's smooth-flowing football virtually passed Malaysia by before Ryohei Yamazaki crowned the Asian Games champions' brilliance with the second goal in the 75th minute and inflicted Malaysia's first defeat of the qualifying campaign.
Although Malaysia improved a great deal in the second half after spending all of the first on the backfoot, coach Ong Kim Swee was able to take some positives out of the team's performance.
"That's the difference between a good team and an average team. We lost to a better team and although Japan played very well, the boys gave them a good fight. They tried to make it difficult for Japan and showed a good attitude," said Kim Swee, who saw Wan Zack Haikal Wan Nor going off injured just before half-time.
Malaysia did not register a single attempt at goal in the first 52 minutes with Shukor Jusoh's wayward effort as Izzaq Faris Ramlan cut a forlorn figure upfront and was rewarded with a 27th-minute yellow card for his troubles.
Fandi Othman had Malaysia's best chance in the 61st minute, after good work by substitute Wan Zaharulnizam Wan Zakaria on the right wing, but in attempting to shift the ball to his right foot, the opportunity was lost.
"We have a lot of things to improve on and when you lose concentration against a team like Japan, they will punish you. The captain played well to keep the score down and the boys will know they have to learn from this match," said Kim Swee who has two home matches against Syria and Bahrain coming up in November.
Japan coach Takashi Sekizuka rued his side's inability to convert a host of scoring chances that came their way.
"Malaysia played a tight game as we had expected. We had plenty of chances to kill the game off in the first half but somehow we looked nervous in trying to score. Two goals is the least we deserved but most importantly we have the three points," said Sekizuka, who surprisingly left deadly striker Kensuke Nagai out of the first XI.
Japan served warning of their ambition as early as the second minute when Khairul Fahmi Che Mat stuck his right leg out to deflect Genki Haraguchi's effort.
Haraguchi tested Fahmi again five minutes later before Hiroshi Kiyotake cut through Malaysian lines to feed Higashi, who drilled in right-footed across Fahmi to put Japan ahead with hardly 10 minute gone.
Fahmi continued to be a stumbling block to Japan, saving at the near post from Higashi a minute later and tipping over Mizuki Hamada's point-blank header in the 16th minute.
Japan spurned an even better chance in stoppage time when the Kelantan goalkeeper blocked Kiyotake's effort one-on-one. Fahmi continued to be a busy man after the break, pushing away Higashi's curling attempt in the 53rd minute.
But Japan sliced Malaysia open in the 75th minute when Nagai stole in behind the backline to set up fellow substitute Yamazaki, who smashed the ball past Fahmi.
Fadhli Shas cleared Yamazaki's shot off the line four minutes later but Malaysia held out till the end without further damage.
Article source: http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/42laka/Article/
See Also
Khairul Fahmi Che Mat - Google Blog Search
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