After five days of uncertainty following a halfhearted defeat in Jeddah, the Samurai Blue had a message for nearly 15,000 fans at Saitama Stadium on Tuesday night: There’s still plenty left to play for.
A dramatic own goal late in the second half gave Japan a 2-1 win over archrival Australia, putting head coach Hajime Moriyasu’s side back into contention for one of Group B’s two automatic World Cup berths after beginning the final group round with two losses from three games.
“We’ve had a lot of tough games where we couldn’t get the result we wanted, but the players are working hard before every game to reach the World Cup and they put out everything they had to get today’s result,” Moriyasu said.