Japan and Australia qualified to the next stage, but they will need to rise their playing level if they want to be title contenders. Kyrgyzstan played well and almost shocked the host nation, UAE.
Japan defeated Uzbekistan and qualified from the first place to the next round. A dramatic goal by Oman in the 94th minute brought them to the round of 16.
Japan kicked off their Asian Cup campaign with an impressive performance. Hector Cúper and Uzbekistan are not looking good quite yet.
They have won 5 out of the last 7 tournaments, they are on the top of Asian football and you can even find some rising teams. This is the Eastern Asia team-by-team preview for the Asian Cup.
Azadi Stadium hosted almost 1,000 women for the first time in years, but Persepolis couldn’t cope with the Japanese trap.
