NEWS

Shinji Okazaki scored in the first half and Keisuke Honda added a second in stoppage time as Japan downed Bahrain 2-0 in their sixth and final match of the final-round qualifiers for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup at Toyota Stadium on Wednesday.

Japan wrapped up their qualifying campaign by topping Group A with 15 points on a 5-0-1 win-draw-loss record. Bahrain finished second, three points back. Going into the match, both teams had already secured their berths for the finals in Qatar next January.
“It’s the first time we’ve beaten Bahrain by two goals,” said Japan coach Takeshi Okada. “Considering the fact that we had only two days to prepare for this game, I think we did reasonably well today.”
Okada formed his lineup around his Europe-based players – CSKA Moscow midfielder Keisuke Honda, Wolfsburg midfielder Makoto Hasebe, Grenoble midfielder Daisuke Matsui and Shunsuke Nakamura, who recently moved back to Yokohama F. Marinos from Espanyol – as he sought to raise the level of the team.
Japan played positively from the start of the game and created a number of early chances, but their eagerness to attack in front of their home fans allowed the Bahrain players to find space themselves.  
Seigo Narazaki had to be alert to protect his goal in the 14th minute when Hasebe failed to clear a free-kick by Sayed Mohamed Adnan and the goalkeeper showed good reactions again in the 26th minute again to deny a mid-range shot by Saleh Abdulhameed.
Japan’s first big opportunity came in the 22nd minute when Honda connected with a feed from Nakamura in the box only to see his effort kept out by Bahrain goalkeeper Sayed Jaafar.
The Samurai Blue took the lead in the 36th minute after Nakamura played a neat layoff to Matsui on the left. Okazaki met Matsui’s cross at the far post and headed home to put Japan 1-0 up.
Shortly before the break, Matsui came close to extending Japan’s lead after being set up by Honda, but the Grenoble midfielder’s shot was blocked by Jaafar.
Japan stayed in control after the break and Honda came close with a header in the 49th minute.
A minute later, Hasebe hit a 12-meter shot, but it was underpowered, and Okazaki headed over in the 59th minute. Okazaki then tried with a chip, but that also cleared the bar.
Bahrain had a chance in the 78th minute when Salman Isa crossed the ball for Ismaeel Latif, but the forward couldn’t get on the end of the pass.
Two minutes into stoppage time, Atsuto Uchida dribbled up the right flank and sent in a cross in that bypassed Takayuki Morimoto and went through to Honda, who headed in from close range.
“Early on, our players seemed to be too eager to win and halfway through the second half, we ran out of steam and couldn’t attack as much,” Okada said. “But our players fought hard to the end and kept trying to score.”
“Honda scored today, which means a lot to us as scoring is what I expect from him more than anything else, so I was more happy about that than any of the others scoring.”
“Congratulations to Japan,” Bahrain coach Milan Macala commented. “I think this result is absolutely correct, because the Japanese team are better and scored both goals on our mistakes. Today, showed the difference between the Japanese and Bahraini leagues.”
“Some of our players were playing for the first time against a big team like Japan in front of a big crowd. They were nervous. But this experience will be good for them for their next game,” Macala added.

Teams:
Japan—Seigo Narazaki, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Atsuto Uchida, Yuji Nakazawa, Yuto Nagatomo, Yasuhito Endo, Daisuke Matsui (Takayuki Morimoto, 67th), Shunsuke Nakamura (Keiji Tamada, 87th), Makoto Hasebe, Keisuke Honda, Shinji Okazaki. Coach, Takeshi Okada
Subs who did not play—Eiji Kawashima, Yuichi Komano, Yuki Abe, Yasuyuki Konno, Shinzo Koroki.
Bahrain—Sayed Jaafar, Husain Mohamed, Sayed Mohamed Adnan, Mohamed Hubail, Salman Isa, Mahmood Abdulrahman, Abdulwahab Ali, Saleh Abdulhameed (Husain Ali, 83rd), Mohamed Salmeen (Husain Salman, 72nd), Ismaeel Latif, Sayed Ali Isa Hasan Radhi (Abbas Ayyad, 89th). Coach, Milan Macala
Subs who did not play—Abbas Khamis, Ebrahim Meshkhas, Dawood Saad, Mahmood Abbas
Goals—Shinji Okazaki (Japan, 36th min), Keisuke Honda (Japan, 92nd min+)
Cautions—Abdulwahab Ali (Bahrain, 43rd), Atsuto Uchida (Japan, 55th), Yasuhito Endo (Japan, 83rd), Salman Isa (93rd +)
Expulsions—none
Attendance—38,042
Referee:Abdul Malik (Singapore)