Jan 30 2009
BHR 1-0 JPN: Issa does it as Bahrain make it out of two
MANAMA – A first half goal from Salman Issa was enough to give Bahrain a 1-0 win over Japan and move them to the top of Group A of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers with a perfect record.
Issa was the hero of the night for Milan Macala’s team as he scored with a header in the 24th minute to give Bahrain their second consecutive victory following last week’s 3-1 win over Hong Kong.
Bahrain now have six points and sit at the summit with Japan in second, level on points with Yemen, who defeated Hong Kong earlier in the day.
The win is Bahrain’s second in less than a year over Japan in Manama following a victory by the same score line in the third round of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup finals.
Abdulla Fatadi had the first opportunity of the evening for the home side when, in the 17th minute, he collected Mohammed Hubail’s cross before firing off a shot that was just wide of the right post.
Six minutes later Keisuke Honda carved out a chance for Japan striker Tatsuya Tanaka only for Sayed Mohamad Jaafar to save at the second attempt.
Just one minute later, however, Bahrain opened the scoring when Hussain Baba struck his free kick deep into the penalty area and Issa beat Eiji Kawashima in the Japanese goal with a header.
Bahrain almost doubled their advantage on 33 minutes when Fauozi Aiash’s cross found Ismail Abdullatif, who headed the ball into the path of Fatadi, but his effort cleared the crossbar.
Japan pushed for the equaliser as the second half kicked off and, just three minutes after the restart, Shinji Okazaki pulled a sharp save out of Jaafar with a header.
At the other end, Kawashima misread Aiash’s long free kick but was saved by the post as the ball ricocheted to safety.
Kengo Nakamura was denied by Jaafar midway through the half while Yuji Nakazawa sent the rebound over the bar as Takeshi Okada’s side continued to push for parity but, ultimately, their attempts were futile and Bahrain held on for the win.
the-afc.com
