AFC QF: Japan 1-1 UAE (penalties 4-5)

Sydney (IraqiNews.com) Defending champions Japan crashed out of the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 on penalties as Shinji Kagawa missed the decisive spot-kick as the United Arab Emirates secured a 5-4 win after a 1-1 draw between the teams at Stadium Australia on Friday. Keisuke Honda was also off target from 12 yards while Ismail Ahmed scored the winning penalty to eliminate the champions as the UAE reached the semi-finals for the first time since 1996. Mahdi Ali’s team will face tournament hosts Australia in Newcastle on January 27 as they aim to reach the final for the first time on foreign soil after losing to Saudi Arabia in the final in Abu Dhabi 19 years ago. Ali Mabkhout took his tally for the tournament to four from as many games with a well-taken effort in just the seventh minute but Gaku Shibasaki leveled nine minutes from time to take the game into extra-time after the Japanese finally secured a reward for their domination. Javier Aguirre named an unchanged side for the fourth game in a row while the United Arab Emirates were without the suspended Walid Abbas, who was ruled out after picking up a second yellow card of the tournament in the 1-0 loss against Iran in the group stages. The Emirates took the lead in the seventh minute, and soon after Mabkhout had given the Japanese a scare when the Al Jazira forward raced in only for a heavy touch to take the ball through to Eiji Kawashima. The 24-year-old, however, made no mistake with his second effort of the game as he controlled Amer Abdulrahman’s ball forward before smashing a left-foot shot across Kawashima and into the far corner of the goal. Japan had already gone close in the opening two minutes when Takashi Inui headed just wide, while Honda’s snap-shot in the ninth minute was only inches away from restoring parity. The defending champions continued to dominate possession and Inui again had the chance to find the back of the net, only for another weak header from Gotoku Sakai’s in-swinging cross from the right to drop into the goalkeeper’s arms. Masato Morishige’s header just after the half hour mark met with a similar fate and, just two minutes before the break, Honda powered his low left-foot effort into the side netting. Japan continued their search for the equaliser into the second half. Substitute Yoshinori Muto shot across the face of goal seven minutes after the restart and, two minutes later, the FC Tokyo striker headed wide after Yasuhito Endo’s center from the right. With Japan’s front line faltering, Yuto Nagatomo tried his luck from the edge of the area, only to send his right foot shot over the bar while, on the hour mark, Kagawa’s effort from the edge of the area – after a neat interchange with Honda – was saved by Majed Naser. Khamis Esmaeel almost put the ball into his own net, only for Abdulaziz Haikal to clear off the line and substitute Yohei Toyoda mistimed his header 15 minutes from time to steer the ball well wide. With nine minutes remaining, Japan finally equalized when Shibasaki picked up a return ball from Honda 20 yards from goal before smashing his right-foot effort low beyond Naser’s outstretched right hand.

Makoto Hasebe could have won it for Japan with five minutes remaining in normal time only for his shot to be blocked by Mohanad Al Enezi’s desperate lunge after Kagawa had earlier forced Naser to punch his attempt clear. /End/