Japan sent crashing out of the Asian Cup

Jan 23, 2015 - 1:42 PM Asian Cup holders Japan have been sent crashing out at the quarter-final stage by the United Arab Emirates, going down 5-4 on penalties in one of the biggest shocks in the tournament's history.

The scores were locked at 1-1 after 120 minutes, but missed penalties by superstar pairing Shinji Kagawa and Keisuke Honda left it down to Ismail Ahmed to book the UAE a semi-final clash with the Socceroos in Newcastle on Tuesday, and the big defender made no mistake with a brilliant effort.

The star-studded Blue Samurai, with ten players in the starting line-up from the top leagues in Europe, trailed for 82 minutes after Ali Ahmed Mabkhout's early strike, but were rescued by a brilliant strike from the edge of the box by Gaku Shibasaki.

The goal was a harsh blow for the dogged Emiratis who were forced to withstand a barrage of pressure from a desperate Japan in the second half but their defence, superbly marshalled by Ahmed and Mohanad Salem, stood resolute.

However, they rode their luck on a couple of occasions with Yoshinori Mutu missing two golden opportunities from close range and Kagawa forcing Majed Naser into a fine save before Shibasaki struck.

Borussia Dortmund star Kagawa almost won the game with the final kick of normal time, but his close-range effort grazed the outside of the left post as the final whistle sounded.

Extra time followed a similar pattern with Kawashima in the Japan goal a complete spectator for 30 minutes, but still his side could not find a second goal.

Honda blazed the first penalty of the shoot out over the bar but the richly talented Omar Abdulrahman responded for the UAE with an audacious Panenka kick, chipping the ball over Kawashima's head.

Khamis Esmaeel missed for the UAE with the third kick to level but Kagawa hit the left post with his sudden death effort and Ahmed stunned the noisy Japan fans to win the game and send the holders out in the last-eight for the first time since 1996.

UAE coach Mahad Ali hailed his players: "I feel proud of this team they gave everything in the 120 minutes," Ali said.

"I would like to congratulate the team. I said it would be tough but we played a fantastic game.

"We lost against Iran this week and were the better team but today I told the players you don't have to always play nice you have to play with heart and spirit.

"Football is sometimes not fair, Iran wasn't fair for us but I think the way we defended tonight we deserved to win."

Japan coach Javier Aguirre said Ali's side "played the game of their lives," but his men could still hold their heads high.

"They defended for 110 minutes and did so very well," the Mexican said.

"But we were the superior team but when you concede an early goal you are chasing the game and it is difficult.

"We created lots of chances but we didn't score until the last minutes.

"But then we lost a penalty competition. If we were only creating one or two chances then I would be worried, but we had many goalscoring opportunities and couldn't take them."

Source: AAP