Saitama: Japan forward Shinji Okazaki remained modestly satisfied with the important role he played as his side claimed a 5-0 win over Afghanistan in the 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifiers at the Saitama Stadium 2002 on Thursday.
Okazaki (pictured) is currently on course for what would be a fairytale title triumph in the English Premier League with Leicester, and has scored a number of crucial goals to help the Foxes claim a five-point lead with seven games remaining.
It is unlikely that his effort on Thursday will be of similar importance in the bigger picture, but it was a crucial strike nonetheless in helping the Samurai Blue stay top of Group E in the qualifiers.
Heavily favoured to cruise past the Afghans, Japan initially struggled to find a way through despite dominating proceedings until the 43rd minute, when Okazaki received an incisive pass from Hiroshi Kiyotake and did brilliantly to beat two defenders before opening the scoring.
Having received a boost just before halftime, the Japanese had no problems sealing the deal in the second half as further strikes from Kiyotake, Maya Yoshida and Mu Kanazaki, along with an own-goal by Sharif Mukhammad, handed them a convincing victory.
“We had some difficult moments in the first half, so my goal came at an important time,” Okazaki said, according to FIFA.com.
Thursday’s game was also the first time in the qualifiers Okazaki was deployed alongside another out-and-out striker in Kanazaki, and Samurai Blue coach Vahid Halilhodzic was delighted with the way his charges adapted to the new system.
“That was a truly beautiful win,” the Bosnian explained.
“At the beginning we were passing the ball a bit too quickly, and some of the players were trying to do too much.
“But overall our team played phenomenally well, with a new system which I had never tried before with them.”
Holding a one-point lead over Syria, Japan will now be looking to wrap up top spot when both teams meet on their final qualifier in Saitama on Tuesday.
Photo: Lagardère Sports
Source: the-afc.com