Bahrain will play against Japan in the AFC Asian Cup on January 31st.
Bahrain coach Juan Antonio Pizzi announced his personal rematch with four-time champions Japan in the last 16 of the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 after leading his team to the knockout stages with a 1-0 win over Jordan on Thursday. enjoying the prospect of .
Abdullah Yusuf scored the only goal of the match at the Khalifa International Stadium, propelling Bahrain to the Round of 16 as Group E winners. This means that Pizzi will once again team up with Japan national team coach Hajime Moriyasu.
The two faced each other at the 2019 continental championship, where Coach Moriyasu led the Japanese national team to a 1-0 victory over Pizzi’s Saudi Arabia. The Argentine knows that his current team faces a huge challenge to reach the quarter-finals.
“The match was very positive and we deserved a better result,” Pizzi said of the last-16 encounter in Sharjah in 2019. “Japan’s level is very high.
“They have high individual skills and potential, but we have great confidence in their focus and effort and hope they can qualify.”
“Every match is difficult for us. The group stage was very difficult for us, but we were able to fight, win and qualify.
“Of course, the Japanese team is good and has experienced players who play in European leagues, but we are optimistic about the group. Our team has high morale and cohesiveness. has the utmost respect for all teams.”
Bahrain secured their second group stage win after a narrow win over Malaysia, and Pizzi celebrated the result in front of a crowd of 36,950.
“I’m very happy to win and I’m also very happy with the team’s performance,” he said. “We executed our plan and wanted to win so we got the three points. Now we have to recover and think about the next game.”
Jordan also progressed to the next stage, resulting in Rusanin Anmuta’s side finishing third on points and securing one of the repechage spots to advance to the last 16, where they will face Iraq.
Ammuta defended the decision to make five changes to the starting XI from the team that drew 2-2 with South Korea and turned his attention to the finals.
“The most important thing is to qualify and do our best in the knockout stage,” said the Moroccan. “In the knockout stage, it is most important to play all your cards. A more complete formation with main players and substitutes will be built.
“In a competition like this, you can’t rely on one player for the entire tournament. It’s everyone’s right to participate in cup competitions, even if they’re on the bench. You have to make a change. No. Our main objective was to avoid a yellow card.
“Regardless of who we play in the next stage, I wanted us to win the three games. The defeat happened. The players don’t accept defeat, but this is football.”
Follow Khel Now on Facebook for latest updates. twitter, Instagram, YouTube. Download the Khel Now Android app or IOS app and join our community on Whatsapp and Telegram.