Japan head coach not surprised with Vietnam’s defensive display

“It’s hard to compare Vietnam in this game to the first leg. They only had one shot in this game and scored, from a corner. In the first leg, they had seven shots. But I’m not surprised with Vietnam’s display. I knew that they would play defensively,” Moriyasu said after the game in Saitama Stadium.

The host Japan dominated the game with 73 percent of possession and 24 shots compared to Vietnam’s one. However, they could only score one goal. This is the first time after 60 years Japan couldn’t defeat Vietnam. In the first leg last year, Japan won 1-0 on Vietnam’s ground thanks to the only goal of Junya Ito.

This time, Vietnam got the goal early in the 20th minute, as Nguyen Thanh Binh scored with a header. After that, Vietnam concentrated on defense to protect the lead, which caused Japan difficulties in finding the way into the box. They found the equalizer in the 54th minute with Mayo Yoshida’s tap-in, but couldn’t score more in the remaining time and the game ended 1-1.

“My players have forgotten to mark the opponent. We cannot let this happen again in the future. I’m sorry that we couldn’t win this game, sorry that we couldn’t get the seventh consecutive win. I’m also sorry that we couldn’t have a better push for World Cup and couldn’t satisfy the fans,” Moriyasu said.

Japan entered the game already having qualified for the 2022 World Cup.

 

 

Japan head coach not surprised with Vietnam’s defensive display

Nhật Bản 1-1 Việt Nam