Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Japan’s national football team coach Hajime Moriyasu said the team had prepared well for the World Cup qualifier against Group B leaders Saudi Arabia which the hosts won 2-0 to improve their chances of making it to the Qatar World Cup.

The match was played at the Saitama Stadium, north of Tokyo, and was attended by some 19,000 fans.

Addressing the media at a post-match press conference the Japanese coach said that Saudi Arabia is a high-level team.

“Saudi Arabia is a very high-level team, so during practice, we organized a match against a stronger opponent, which helped us with our preparation against the Saudis,” added the Japanese coach.

Replying to an ANJ question about his impression of the Saudi players and whether he felt any threat from them in the game, Moriyasu said, “Saudi Arabia, like us, was in a situation where their main players could not join the team. However, even though the Saudi team had lost its main players, they still had a strong ability to fight aggressively and systematically.”

The Japanese coach also said that Saudi Arabia’s side attacks “forced us sometimes to fall far behind, and as I was watching the game, I got the feeling the Saudis are a highly offensive team.”