SINGAPORE-An understrength yet totally dominant Japan extracted the required revenge by cruising to a 3-0 victory over Singapore in their World Cup qualifier on November 12.
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Singapore goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud made 18 saves in the goalless draw at Saitama and he continued to frustrate Japan in the opening minutes on his home ground as the visitors poured on intense pressure.
Singapore will again take on Japan tonight (Nov 12) at the National Stadium.
Stange concluded with his usual air of optimism by singling out Izwan, Safuwan and captain Hariss Harun as locals who can “make the next step soon” to a higher level, though he did concede Singapore need to produce more of their ilk.
“Nobody expected us to get a result in this game”. Ten points is a good result for us and we now want to go all the way to the United Arab Emirates. It’s the same when we played away in Japan.
“We played with ambition and aggressiveness, but were unfortunate not to score more goals”, the 63-year-old said. “It has become like a specialty that has helped us win games and titles like the Suzuki Cup during Raddy’s (former Singapore coach) time and this will be that one quality to help us in this game”.
Both sides rang the changes in the final 15 minutes, with Japan coach Vahid Halilhodzic giving Kagawa a run-out while Singapore counterpart Stange threw on debutant Christopher van Huizen for the jaded Faris.
Japan embrace after a second goal courtesy of Keisuke Honda.
On the other side, Japan opted to leave Shinji Kagawa and Shinji Okazaki on the bench, with Yoshinori Muto and Kanazaki forming a front three alongside Honda.
The Lions spoiled Halihodzic’s first competitive match as the Blue Samurai coach five months ago when they repelled everything that came their way to earn a surprise 0-0 draw at Saitama Stadium. Their whole team was technically sound so they could move the ball much quicker.
Singapore lie third in the group, two points behind Syria having played a game more. “It will be tougher with them playing at home, and we need firm determination”.
Takashi Usami has uncharacteristically gone seven games without a goal for Gamba Osaka, while another name among the list of forwards, Mu Kanazaki, is back after five years following a dogged display for Kashima Antlers that brought his club a record sixth Nabisco Cup on October 31. Playing football, passing game, dominating, splitting passes, no crosses when nobody is in the box.
“Some players have just arrived from Europe and they are still getting used to the differences in the temperature and the heat so I don’t know who will start the game yet”, said Halihodzic, who will be taking his team on to Phnom Penh for their next qualifier against Cambodia on Tuesday.
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The eight group winners and four best runners-up will qualify for the 2019 Asian Cup and also advance to the third round of a lengthy World Cup qualifying campaign in Asia, which will eventually provide four teams for Russian Federation 2018.
