Lessons Against The Indonesian National Team Are Factors In Japan's Victory Over Bahrain

JAKARTA - Japan successfully took tickets to the 2023 Asian Cup quarter-finals after overthrowing Bahrain 3-1 at Al Thumama Stadium, Wednesday, January 31, 2024.

Hajime coach Moriyasu assessed that one of the winning factors was the increase in team performance. The increase was obtained from the match against the Indonesian national team in the last match of Group D.

They got a lot of input, especially about the team's shortcomings, from the match against the Garuda Squad. As a result, they were able to anticipate weaknesses when they met Bahrain in the last 16 of the 2023 Asian Cup.

"We analyzed ourselves after the match against Indonesia. We improved a few things. We played better against Bahrain," Moriyasu said on the AFC website.

"I think this victory is the result of the hard work of my players and staff in training. We had six days to rest and train very well. We prepared very well against Bahrain."

However, Hajime Moriyasu was still not satisfied with the team's performance. This made him throw ultimatums at his troops after the match against Bahrain.

"I think today's performance is not 100 percent. We can also increase for the next match (in the quarter-finals)," he said.

One of the highlights that angered Moriyasu was the chaos between Ayase Ueda and Zion Suzuki goalkeepers in anticipation of Sayed Baqer's header in the 64th minute.

This situation created a Japanese own goal that made Bahrain rise. At that time, the score changed to 2-1 for the advantage of the Blue Samurai.

However, Bahrain is increasingly motivated to equalize. Luckily, Ueda made up for his mistake by scoring Japan's third goal eight minutes later.

"We defended well against Bahrain during the match. We controlled the ball efficiently."

"We did what we wanted to do before the game. Of course not every game is perfect, I admit that. However, I think we can improve it in the next game," said Moriyasu.

Japan will face Iran in the 2023 Asian Cup quarter-finals at the Education Stadium, Al Rayyan, on February 3, 2024.