Japan 1-2 Iran: Last minute penalty cost Samurai Blue premature exit as determined Team Melli completed dramatic comeback win

It is the same scoreline with the loss to Iraq in the group stage but this is a result much more deserved. 

Although determination and enthusiasm are at a similar level between Iraq and Iran as well as their long ball tactics, Japan had much better stats in the Iraq match. Today, Moriyasu’s side were only superior to Iran for possession and number of the pass, mainly generated by moving the ball sideways or backtracking. 

“It was a kind of typical Japan game as once we had a bad moment, it went worse and worse with easy mistakes and lost concentration,” Tomiyasu said after the game. “We couldn’t even build up attacks in the second half. Iran deserved to win.”

The day before the quarter-final, Junya Ito left the Japan camp due to an alleged sexual assault revealed by a weekly magazine called Shukan Shincho in his home country. Under the unprecedented situation, one of the main questions was how his teammates would react. 

Would they crack under the pressure? Or could they be more united by a provocative issue such as Italy had done so to win the World Cup in 2006, several weeks after the Calciopoli scandal was uncovered? 

Morita scored the opener, his third goal for Japan

The Japanese looked unfazed until the hour mark, challenging fierce battles against the tough opposition. In the 28th minute, Hidemasa Morita received the ball on the left side and exchanged passes with Ayase Ueda to move up to the box. The Sporting Club Portugal central midfielder, back to the starting line-up since the Iraq game, shot awkwardly but the ball hit the right leg of Alireza Beiranvand and bounced into the goal. 

However, the side which gained momentum after the opener was Iran, not Japan, partially because a yellow card was shown to Ko Itakura four minutes before. The Borussia Mönchengladbach centre-back played softly and was unstable after that, which made Iran’s long balls much more efficient.

Japan had managed to keep the scoreline by halftime but couldn’t hold Iran’s onslaught after the restart. 

After 50 minutes, Sardar Azmoun ran behind the backline and easily won a duel with Itakura to unleash a close-range shot, seeing that Zion Suzuki’s left leg stopped it. If Ueda didn’t miss the target for Takefusa Kubo’s neat cross two minutes later, the course of the game could have changed positively for Japan. 

But the Feyenoord striker’s header went over the bar and things got worse. In the 55 minute, Azmoun was quick to receive the ball in front of the box to feed a through ball to Mohammad Mohebi, who got ahead of Itakura to shoot it sharply into the bottom corner. 

Rethink the tag attached by the domestic media

The equaliser made the Iranians stronger and sharper and Japan started to struggle with the opponents’ high press. Headers from Mohebi and Azmoun went closely wide and over respectively as Japan were pinned in their own half, failing to collect second balls. 

Then, the crucial moment came when the extra time loomed. A diagonal long ball from the right created chaos in the box and Itakura fouled Hossein Kanaanizadegan to give them a penalty in the 90+4 minute. Zion Suzuki, who made several fine saves, couldn’t touch a powerful kick from Alireza Jahanbakhsh. Japan’s quest for their fifth triumph in Asia ended. 

“When opponents push us directly and powerfully, we have to find the solution,” Moriyasu said afterwards. “It was down to my misjudgement in terms of changing players and so on. But we have to move on to the World Cup qualifiers and for our target to become champions of the world.”

Well, it is not the most suitable comment after the earliest exit from the tournament since 1992 (the 1996 and 2015 editions saw their quarter-final losses too). This team are called “Japan’s best ever side” after beating Germany (twice) and Spain but lost to Iraq and Iran. 

Now the media and fans realize that it was an exaggeration and the team must be humble again.