Roar Guru
Japan and Iraq do battle for the top spot in Group D in the Asian Cup. Join The Roar from 8.00pm (AEDT) for all the action from Brisbane.
Japan kicked off the tournament with an easy 4-0 win over Palestine in Newcastle, while Iraq scrapped past Jordan 1-0.
Both teams are in the box set to reach the quarter-finals, and will do so with a win here.
Japan, the defending champions, defeated Palestine without breaking a sweat. It all looked too early for Samurai Blue and it could have been six or seven goals if they were in the mood.
Iraq will be a much tougher opponent. They won the Asian Cup in 2007 and are always tricky opposition.
Japan have stated publicly their concerns about the humidity in Brisbane, which they blamed for their poor showing in Brazil. The conditions are something the Iraqi’s should be more familiar with.
But the 2007 winners were slow out of the box against Jordan, only managing nine shots in the 90 minutes and just two on target. Skipper Younis Mahmoud struggled to make an impact, with Justin Meram effective in the second half.
Iraq has a young team and are still finding their feet, but I can’t see Japan taking them lightly.
Nothing but a win will be Japan’s aim. Followed by a huge amount of media and enjoying good support, they will want to top the group.
It will be interesting to see whether Javier Aguirre rests some of his stars after playing a first-choice XI in Newcastle. It’s a short turnaround between games and he won’t want to burnout any of his key players.
So far in the Asian Cup Japan and Australia, perhaps along with Iran, have looked the best out of the 16 teams.
Japan can play breath-taking football when they want to, so how they meet the challenge of Iraq will be fascinating.
With Honda, Kagawa etc on song, I can’t see the Samurai Blue losing this game.
Join me for the 8.00pm (AEDT) for all the goings on at Suncorp Stadium. It should be a cracker.
Prediction: Japan 3-1
Follow John Davidson on Twitter @johnnyddavidson