The Hindu : Sport : Japan unimpressive in victory

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Japan unimpressive in victory

Principal Correspondent

PHOTO: G.P. SAMPATH KUMAR

PERFECT: Japan's Kazuhisa Kawahara (second left) scores against DPR Korea.

BANGALORE: Japan, seemingly weighed down by the `favourite' tag, was far from impressive in its 2-0 win over DPR Korea in the AFC Youth football championship Group `C' opener at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here.

The rains kept away as did the expected Sunday crowd, and those turned up witnessed a mediocre fare. The Japanese, who have yet to win this title after five final appearances, did not translate its superiority into goals. Much more skilful than the North Koreans, the Japanese did enjoy the chunk of exchanges, and it was the nippy North Koreans who made the first sortie deep into the rival half, but the floater from right went abegging.

Japan, playing four midfielders, did spray passes at will upfront and one such move early in the 10th minute saw Masaki Yamamoto whip a long ranger only to see the rival custodian Kwang Min tip it over for a corner.

Taking the lead

Japan struck in the 32nd minute. A move down the left saw Yasuhito Morishima relay the ball and Kazuhisa Kawahara bulged the nets with a crisp essay.

With neither side showing much urgency even after the start of the second session, there was little to enthuse about until the 82nd minute when Yosuke Kashiwagi slipped home a fine through from Kawahara past an uncertain custodian.

DPR Korea did accelerate, but lacked the wherewithal to trouble the cohesive Japanese defence and even the introduction of FIFA's star of the future — Choe Myong Ho in the 71st minute — could not infuse any noteworthy move from the North Koreans.

North Korean captain Kum Il and forward Chol Min Jong were booked by Bahrain's referee Abdul Hameed Ebrahim.

Iran sinks Tajikistan

Later in another Group C match, Mostafa Chatrabgoon's brace spearheaded an Iranian revival and sunk Tajikistan. Iran rode high on a second-half surge that wiped away its 0-1 deficit at the break and eventually defeated Tajikistan 3-1. The match proved to be a close contest for a large part before the Tajikistan defence wilted against the intermittent waves of Iranian attacks.

It was Tajikistan that moved ahead in the 10th minute after a few early sorties proved futile. Farkhod Vasiev's long-pass found Kamil Saidov's dribbling feet. Saidov after luring the Iranian custodian A. Haghighi to the wrong spot, sold a dummy and sent a back-heel pass to an unmarked A. Khamrakulov to slot home the goal. The Tajikis continued to hustle while the Iranians gamely tried for the equaliser but last-minute glitches undid them.

However amends were made in the second half as Iran came out charging much to the delight of its 100-strong supporters consisting of expat Iranian students. In the 54th minute, an on-the-run Shahram Goudarzi scored off a diagonal cross from Al Amiri. The shell-shocked Tajikistan defence hardly had any time to recover when in the 57th minute, Mostafa Chatrabgoon scored off a Shahram Goudarzi's pass.

Tajikistan never recovered and through its hurly-burly tactics, also suffered three yellow cards. The final nail was driven in again by Chatrabgoon as he flicked in a long-pass from M. Navroudi in the 81st minute.

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