Doha, April 25 (QNA) – The Qatari Olympic football team lost to its Japanese counterpart by four goals to two, in the match that took place today at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in the quarter-finals of the U-23 Asian Cup currently being held in Doha.
Ahmed Al-Rawi scored for the Qatari team in the 24th minute and Jassim Jaber in the 49th minute, while Fuki Yamada, Seiji Kimura, Mao Hosoya and Kotaro Uchino took turns scoring the four goals for the Japanese team in the 2nd, 67th, 101st and 113th minutes.
The Japanese team advanced to the semi-finals to meet the winner of the match against Iraq and Vietnam, ensuring at the same time the competition to reach the football competition in the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics through the possibility of obtaining one of the three direct tickets, or competing in the playoff with the fourth African U-23 Championship. .
The Japanese team surprised its opponent very early by scoring the first goal after less than two minutes, when Fuki Yamada took advantage of a defensive error and shot a powerful ball, but goalkeeper Youssef Abdullah was unable to prevent it from entering the net in the second minute.
The Qatari team needed some time to recover from the shock of the early deficit in light of Japanese superiority, which almost resulted in a second goal through Koryo Matsuki’s shot that went over the crossbar in the eighth minute, before Fuki Yamada, the scorer, tried to score again with another long shot, which the goalkeeper controlled in the 16th minute.
The Qatari team began to enter the atmosphere of the match, little by little, through successive arrivals to the Japanese team’s goal, which began with Jassim Jaber’s header after Khaled Ali’s cross, and the ball passed next to the post in the 18th minute, before Khaled Ali led a counterattack and passed towards Ahmed Al-Rawi inside the area, but the defense cleared it in the 22nd minute. .
The Qatari team continued to have the advantage in search of an adjustment, which did not take long after Abdullah Al-Yazidi penetrated and sent a cross, which Ahmed Al-Rawi rose to and placed it into the net in a wonderful way, adjusting the palms in the 24th minute.
Jassim Jaber almost scored a second goal when he rose to Khaled Ali’s cross and turned it into the goal, so that it passed the post in the 32nd minute, before the match witnessed a turning point, after the referee showed the red card in the face of Qatari national team goalkeeper Youssef Abdullah, after returning to the VAR technology. As a result of roughness outside the penalty area with Japanese striker Ken Sato in the 42nd minute.
The Japanese team imposed a clear advantage for the rest of the time, taking advantage of the numerical shortage after Khaled Ali came out as a substitute for goalkeeper Ali Nader to replace goalkeeper Youssef Abdullah, and Ken Sato almost scored from a free ball after a powerful shot went over the crossbar in the 45th minute, ending the first half in a 1-1 draw.
In the same way as the Japanese surprise at the beginning of the match, the Qatari team began the second half with the goal of taking the lead after less than two minutes when Tariq Meshal executed a free ball on the head of Jassim Al Jaber, who turned it into the net, giving Al-Adam the lead in the 49th minute despite the numerical deficiency.
The Qatari national team players dealt with the Japanese pressure in an intelligent manner, after they tightly closed the back areas and relied on quick transitions with counterattacks that almost resulted in a third goal on two occasions. The first was when Saif al-Din Fadlallah shot a strong ball over the crossbar in the 52nd minute, before Ahmed’s ball passed. Al-Rawi along the left post in the 58th minute.
The Japanese team searched for a way to reach the Qatari team’s net through open play, but to no avail. They found the solution in set pieces, one of which brought them back into the match when defender Seiji Kimura scored the equalizer with a header after a corner kick in the 67th minute.
The Japanese team gained a lot of morale boosters after the draw, as they doubled their offensive pressure, and almost scored the third goal through Mao Hosoya, who received a cross inside the area and shot near the post in the 73rd minute, before substitute Shota Fujio wasted an opportunity in front of the goal and shot over the crossbar in the 73rd minute. 80.
The Qatari team’s defense withstood successive attacks from the Japanese team, with goalkeeper Ali Nader also showing remarkable brilliance, who valiantly defended his goal, especially when dealing with crosses. Regular time ended in a two-goal draw, and both teams resorted to extra time.
The Japanese team continued to press in the first extra half, relying on penetration from deep in the penalty area instead of crosses, to score the third goal when Ryutaro Araki passed the ball towards Mao Hosoya, who faced the goalkeeper and shot into the goal in the 101st minute, ending the first extra half with his country leading by three. Goals for two goals.
The Qatari team left its backcourt in the second extra half in search of an adjustment. On the other hand, the Japanese team relied on rebounds that resulted in a fourth goal through substitute Kotaro Uchino, who followed the rebound from the goalkeeper and put it into the net in the 113th minute, securing the Japanese team’s victory by four goals to two, and qualifying for the final. Semi-finals of the tournament.
