Japan Coach Moriyasu Hails His Players’ Spirit against Iran

A brace from Yuya Osako and a late strike from Genki Haraguchi took the Japanese into the tournament decider, where it will face either the United Arab Emirates or Qatar at Zayed Sports City Stadium on Friday.

“Iran had earned great results in the past and we knew the team is going to be a very tough opponent, but the players had prepared well and they showed great fighting spirit,” said Moriyasu, who also led Japan to the final of the Asian Games in Indonesia last summer.

“They didn’t forget to have the mindset of challengers and that gave us the win against Iran. The atmosphere was like an away game for us, but there were many Japanese supporters and many people back home supporting us too. I’m happy the players could show the spirit to fight and to deliver a good result,” he added.

 “I don’t think we have changed compared to how we have played in the previous matches, but what our players did against Iran was, by respecting and knowing our opponent, they tried to perform to their best individually and as a team and play for the result,” said Moriyasu.

“Knowing that Iran has a strong attack and is strong physically, the players were aggressive and showed a lot of fighting spirit, and that was the difference. We tried to win the second ball and they were persistent,” the Japan coach stated.

“We knew it would be very hard to hold the ball, but the players tried hard and delivered the ball from the defensive line to the forwards and I think that was the good part. We were able to be aggressive in attack and defense but we were patient defensively and we were able to stop the Iranian attacks,” Moriyasu said.

“There wasn’t just one style of play in this match, but the players showed flexibility and that’s what got us our result. In the final we will have our football ideals but when we face the reality we will adjust to that,” he concluded.