Mochizuki does it for Japan

beirut, October : Shigeyoshi Mochizuki only got to play in the Asian Cup final because of Junichi Inamoto’s suspension, but he popped up after 29 minutes to score the only goal in their 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in a thrilling end-to-end match in front of a packed crowd in Beirut’s City Sportive. Mochizuki got on the end of Shunsuke Nakamura’s free-kick to open the scoring after Saudi Arabian striker Hamzah Idris had missed an early penalty. Saudi Arabia chose to play with two big strikers, bringing in Hamzah Idris to partner the youngster Talal Al-Meshal. Sami Al-Jaber dropped into midfield and Fouzi Al-Shehri also came in to fill the void left by the suspended Mohammed Nour and Abdullah Jumaan. Japan, meanwhile, replaced Junichi Inamoto, who misses the final after collecting two yellow cards, with Shigeyoshi Mochizuki. The Kyoto Purple Sanga midfielder slotted on the right-hand side and Tomokazu Myojin moved across into central midfield.

Saudi Arabia got off to the better start continually troublingthe Japanese defence with long balls forward. After just eight minutes referee Ali Bujsaim of the UAE gave a penalty when Al Meshal was pulled back by Japan captain Ryuzo Morioka, booking Mochizuki in the process. Hamza Idris stepped forward, but pulled his spot-kick wide of Kawaguchi’s right-hand post with the goalkeeper having guessed the wrong way.

In the 29th minute Japan turned that domination into a goal. Ahmad Dukhi became the first Saudi to be booked after he fouled Nakahara. The free-kick from mid-way into the half near the left-hand touchline should have been comfortably dealt with, but a clump of four players all missed Nakamura’s cross and the ball fell to Mochizuki who, making only his second start of the tournament, gleefully stabbed a crisp half-volley past Al Daeyea.