Japan storms into semifinals

By Amitabha Das Sharma

KOLKATA, JAN. 21. Japan celebrated its entry into the Sahara Cup semifinals with a glut of goals beating Jordan 4-0 in the last quarterfinal match here at Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday. Japan will now meets Yugoslavia in the second semifinal to be played on Tuesday.

Playing its customary fast paced game, Japan excelled in its attacks finishing in four out of the six positive chances that the Asian champion earned. Jordan failed to provide the right opposition and succeeded only in some forays through the wings in the initial session of the match but the moves met premature deaths as the Japan defence - especially the stoppers Mitsura Chiyotanda and Koyabashi - stood to the occasions throttling the attempts by the Jordanian attackers Badran Al- Shaqran and Hatem M. Aqel.

Japan rested its dribbling maestro in forward Fukai Masaki and preferred to have tall Ota Keisuke as the pivot around whom all the attack built up. But the first break in the match came through midfielder Fujita Yoshimasa in the 31st minute. Facing difficulty in breaching the tall Jordan defence-line, Yoshimasa successfully tried a long ranger from around 35 yards intercepting a defensive clearance before unleashing a powerful right-footed pile driver that gave no chance to the Jordan custodian, Ahmad Al-Khazaleh.

Jordan's only hope of breaching the Japanese citadel came in the 36th minute when Rafat Ali Jaber intercepted an intended back- pass by Yoshimasa but before Jaber could make an attempt the Japanese goalkeeper saved the day, charging in for a timely clearance. Jordan, which has scaled the likes of the mighty Romanians in the league phase, found the Japanese combined university team too hot to handle, conceeding three more goals in the second session. The tentativeness in its offence and midfield, as feared by its Argentine coach Ricado Carugati before the match, appeared to be coming true as Jordan faltered in its offensive giving Japan all the freedom to scheme and implement its attacks.

Keisuke played his role to perfection heading in a corner by Keiji Yoshimura in the 54th minute. Keeping up the thrusts on the flanks, Japan got the third goal in the 58th minute when Yoshimura finished a brilliant move down the left that saw Mikami Takuya stealing deep into the Jordan penalty area before essaying a measured minus for his colleague to finish.

Frustration mounted in the Jordan ranks and the players involved in rough tackles incurring cautions from Indian referee Binod Kumar Singh. The Middle East team saw the greatest perpetrator in defender Hassouneh Sheikh Qasem who collected simultaneous yellow cards for foul and dissent to be given marching orders in the 65th minute. Given a greater space to play with the opposition down to 10 men, Japan enhanced its tally to 4-0 in the 67th minute having Sekine Hideki - substituting Yoshimasa midway through the second session - volley home a cross from the dynamic left flank by Takuya.

The win will serve as a great morale booster for the youthful team from Japan which takes on the fancied Yugoslavs after a day's break.

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Section  : Sport
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