Draw frustrates Zaccheroni

Japan manager Alberto Zaccheroni was disappointed his side could only manage a 1-1 draw with Jordan in their opening Asian Cup match on Sunday.

It was a poor start for Japan – one of the favourites for the tournament – as they were frustrated by their opponents who defended resolutely and packed men behind the ball after they took the lead on the stroke of half-time courtesy of Hassan Abdel Fattah.

Maya Yoshida’s injury-time winner saved the day for Japan and was enough to avoid an embarrassing defeat but Zaccheroni said it was still not good enough.

“I am not satisfied with the result. Japan controlled the match over the 90 minutes while Jordan played defensively,” Zaccheroni said.

“It was the opening match and I knew it would be difficult. I knew we did not have much space on the pitch, so to cope with that we needed to speed up our play. We could not get a goal despite the fact we had chances and we conceded a goal through our own doing.”

“We had plenty of shots so whenever we played the ball around each other we had a chance to get a goal.”

The draw sees Japan needing a win on Thursday when they face Syria, a side who are also likely to pack men behind the ball, which won’t surprise Zaccheroni, who said his side ‘always play to win matches’.

“They (Jordan) scored first and from that they gained confidence against us. That goal influenced the match,” he said.

“But for me I was not satisfied with the first half and the second half was only so-so. I imagine that other teams, and not just Jordan, will play like this also.”

Jordan boss Adnan Hamad was pleased with the spirit shown by his players, but admitted he was disappointed at the fact they failed to hold on for all three points, despite 75 places separating the two countries in the world rankings.

“This was a good match and I would like to extend my thanks to my players for their good discipline on the field,” Hamad said.

“They played with confidence and victory was possible. With regards to the result it is not as good as it could have been and though it is not a bad result it is a sad one for us.”

“The final score perhaps makes sense but the goal in the last minute was something we did not expect. We had high hopes of getting three points.”

Hamad also said the result will give his side ‘a boost for coming matches’ in their bid to qualify from the group.