Japan forward Keisuke Honda once again issued a damning verdict on the standard of Asia's referees after the Samurai Blue were denied a seemingly legitimate goal in Thursday's 2-1 World Cup-qualifying loss to the United Arab Emirates.
Honda, who accused Qatari referee Abdulrahman Hussain of officiating Japan's opening game of the 2015 Asian Cup against Palestine "like a basketball game," gave Japan an 11th-minute lead against the UAE before two goals from Ahmed Khalil put the visitors in front early in the second half.
The 58,895-strong Saitama Stadium crowd celebrated what it thought was an equalizer when UAE goalkeeper Khalid Eisa was late to claw away a 77th-minute shot from Japan substitute Takuma Asano, only to see Qatari referee Abdulrahman Al-Jassim wave play on after ruling that the ball had not crossed the line.
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