Japan roar into AFC quarters

MELBOURNE: Keisuke Honda and Shinji Kagawa were on target to give Japan a 2-0 win over Jordan on Tuesday as the holders swept imperiously into the Asian Cup quarter-finals.
Talisman Honda snapped up a rebound on 24 minutes after Shinji Okazaki’s drive had been well blocked by goalkeeper Amer Shafi, to net his third goal in three games and take the Blue Samurai through as comfortable Group D winners.
Kagawa, largely ineffectual up to that point, slammed home the second from close range eight minutes from time, capping Japan’s third straight victory. They advanced to face the United Arab Emirates in the last eight while Jordan were eliminated.
“It was an intense game,” Japan coach Javier Aguirre told reporters. “We had to give maximum effort but we deserved to win. Now everything starts from zero again. All the eight teams in the quarter-finals have equal opportunity to win the tournament.”
Honda was his side’s heartbeat throughout the match, watched by 25,000 in Melbourne including Japanese tennis star Kei Nishikori, competing at the Australian Open across the road.
Shortly after putting Japan in front, Honda whipped in a corner which defender Masato Morishige met with a fierce header that forced an acrobatic tip-over from the busy Shafi.
Japan had the ball in the net after just 10 minutes, only for Takashi Inui’s bullet volley to be ruled out after Okazaki was harshly adjudged to have taken the ball out of play before crossing.
Honda, fined $5,000 at the weekend for an outburst over the officiating at the Asian Cup, also had a goal disallowed for a questionable offside shortly before the hour-mark and smashed a shot against the post in the last minute in a live-wire performance.
Makoto Hasebe, making a record 56th appearance as Japan captain, bossed the midfield, constantly breaking up play to allow Honda and Yuto Nagatomo the freedom to run riot.
Jordan coach Ray Wilkins, who had been screaming and waving his arms on the touchline in red-faced fury as the veins bulged in his head, gave a far calmer assessment of the game after the final whistle.
“It showed the gulf in class,” said the Englishman. “We were beaten by an exceptionally good Japan team. That’s what we have to aspire to — to be as good as those guys. It’s going to take a very good team to beat the Japanese team.”