After an impressive 10-match winning streak, including some great victories over Peru, Germany, Canada and more, Japan was finally stopped by Gulf champion Iraq.
Honestly, I am so glad that it was not a tournament. If so, the defeat handed by Iraq would have been game over for us. So now, I hope we can get revenge against Iraq in the AFC Asian Cup Final! And that’s the kind of respect I have for Iraq.
So, what is Japanese football to the rest of the nations?
I think the hierarchy of Asian football has changed so much. People see Japan as one of Asia’s strongest, if not the strongest, football nation. Just looked at the Iraqi victory against Japan. With no disrespect, the Iraqis fought well, beat one of the AFC Asian Cup’s favourites, and celebrated like they had won the Cup. It was a massive victory for the Iraqis.
Iraq celebrating the victory with their supporters.
It was a different situation some thirty years ago when the Japanese were in tears when the superior Iraq scored to level the game, which cost us a place in the 1994 World Cup. Ironically, that episode took place here in Doha, too.
Iraq registered a crucial 2-1 victory over Japan last Friday. I had the opportunity to talk to some Iraqi supporters after the match. To my surprise, I discovered that the generic Iraqi supporters did not like the two-goal scorer, Aymen Hussein. I didn’t understand why, but it’s shocking to learn that there were many more words of hatred than praise for the 27-year-old striker despite his outstanding effort.
Well, what do I know about their football?
The Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya striker looks like a very versatile striker. He stands 1.89m tall and is physically as strong as a Hulk; he plays like a target man and is very effective on the flanks. Moreover, he wears jersey number 18, and whenever he scores a goal, he celebrates by pulling out a jaguar pose, just like Japan’s Asano Takuma.
At the end of the match, a lot of Iraqi supporters yelled at me. Well, that’s football.
Anyway, to all the Iraq supporters, Japan will win the next match when we meet again. See you in the Final.
