KUALA LUMPUR: Australia brought Japan’s rampant start to Asia’s World Cup preliminaries to a halt on Tuesday as Tony Popovic’s side eked out a 1-1 draw with the Group C leaders in Saitama while South Korea continued their winning run with a 3-2 victory over Iraq.

The Japanese had won nine consecutive World Cup qualifiers without conceding but Shogo Taniguchi put Lewis Miller’s low cross into his own goal in the 58th minute to give the Socceroos an unexpected lead.

Popovic, in his second game in charge since replacing Graham Arnold last month, had set his side up in an ultra-defensive formation and looked to hold on to their advantage.

But substitute Keito Nakamura eventually unlocked the Socceroos’ defence with 14 minutes remaining, dancing through the backline before powering the ball across the face of goal for Cameron Burgess to deflect into his own net.

Both Nakamura and fellow substitute Junya Ito caused Australia problems in a frantic end to the match but Japan could not find a late winner.

“The result maybe wasn’t what we were looking for but to come back from conceding the first goal at home and then get the equaliser is a positive,” said Japan captain Hidemasa Morita.

The result moves Japan, looking for an eighth successive World Cup qualification, onto 10 points from four games with the Aus­tralians five points behind in second place and Saudi Arabia and Bahrain a point further adrift.

“We hadn’t conceded any goals before this game and then we went behind to an own goal,” said Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu. “The players continued to keep doing the right things and they handled it in a calm way. We didn’t expect it to happen but they didn’t let it get to them and they dealt with it.”

Popovic said he was happy with the point in Japan after “a very resolute display defensively”.

“They have a first 11 that are all players that play in top leagues in Europe,” Popovic said of the hosts. “To keep them to the minimum — they will always have their moments because they have the quality -- it was a very good display.”

Australia’s preparations were hampered when they arrived at Saitama Stadium 45 minutes later than scheduled after their team bus got stuck in traffic.

“Not ideal preparations but we didn’t use that as an excuse -- the players and staff were fantastic,” said Popovic, who handed a first cap to 34-year-old midfielder Luke Brattan.

“The players had 10 minutes to get ready and we just dealt with the situation and they showed a fantastic performance today.”

China picked up their first win in Group ‘C’ as Branko Ivankovic’s side defeated Indonesia 2-1 in Qingdao with first half goals from Behram Abduweli and Zhang Yuning securing the three points.

The top two from each of the three Asian qualifying groups automatically reach the World Cup in North America.

South Korea, who have appeared at every World Cup since 1986, secured a 3-2 win over Iraq in Seoul as Hong Myung-bo’s side registered a second win in a row to move clear at the top of Group ‘B’.

Oh Se-hun put the Koreans ahead in the top-of-the-table clash four minutes before halftime but Aymen Hussein’s overhead kick five minutes into the second half levelled the score.

Oh Hyeon-gyu restored Korea’s lead with 16 minutes remaining and Lee Jae-sung scored his side’s third nine minutes later to leave Ibrahim Bayesh’s 95th minute goal as nothing more than a consolation for Jesus Casas’ team.

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2024