page_title: 2019 AFC Asian Cup Final
section_title: Japan
hierarchical_section_title: 2019 AFC Asian Cup Final / Route to the final / Japan
caption_attribution_description: English: Iran-Japan, 2019 AFC Asian Cup Semi-final
context_page_description: The 2019 AFC Asian Cup Final was a football match which determined the winner of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial tournament contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of the Asian Football Confederation. The match was held at the Zayed Sports City Stadium in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 1 February 2019 and was contested by Japan and Qatar.
  Japan had won in each of its four previous AFC Asian Cup finals, while Qatar were playing in their first, which they managed to reach without conceding a goal in the prior six matches. Qatar won the final 3–1 for their first AFC Asian Cup title, scoring twice in the first half and earning a late penalty in the second half. For Japan, this was their first defeat in an Asian Cup final. Qatari fans were largely unable to attend the tournament due to the ongoing Qatar diplomatic crisis.
context_section_description: Japan is the most successful nation at the Asian Cup, having won it a record four times—most recently in 2011. They qualified for the 2019 tournament by topping Group E with an undefeated record of seven wins and one draw, scoring 27 goals and conceding none. After the team reached the round of 16 during the 2018 FIFA World Cup, head coach Akira Nishino was replaced by Hajime Moriyasu, who had assisted Nishino and served as coach of the under-23 team preparing for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Moriyasu elected to exclude several veteran players in his Asian Cup squad, including midfielder Shinji Kagawa and striker Shinji Okazaki, with the goal of exposing younger, in-form players to international competition. Under Moriyasu's tenure, Japan was undefeated in five matches before the start of the Asian Cup.
  In their opening match of the Asian Cup, Japan faced Turkmenistan and conceded a goal in the 26th minute, a long-range strike by Arslanmyrat Amanow, and entered halftime trailing 1–0. Japan took the lead in the second half with a brace from Yuya Osako, who scored in the 56th and 60th minutes, and added a third goal by Ritsu Doan eleven minutes later. The lead was cut back to 3–2 by a penalty kick scored in the 78th minute by Ahmet Ataýew. Moriyasu acknowledged that the team struggled in the match against Turkmenistan and praised their performance before adding that they would need to improve in order to advance from the group stage. In their second match against Oman, Japan had several early chances that they failed to convert into goals before earning a penalty in the 28th minute for a tackle on Genki Haraguchi, who scored. The 1–0 win, which came with Oman being denied a penalty for an alleged handball in the first half, saw Japan qualify for the knockout round. Moriyasu fielded an entirely new starting lineup, save for forward Koya Kitagawa, for the final group stage match against Uzbekistan. Japan and clinched a first-place finish in Group F through a come-from-behind 2–1 victory over Uzbekistan. After conceding a goal in the 40th minute, Japan responded with a header scored by Yoshinori Muto in the 43rd minute and a long-distance strike by Tsukasa Shiotani in the 58th minute.
  The Samurai Blue faced Saudi Arabia in the round of 16 and played defensively, fielding a lineup similar to their first two group stage matches. Japan advanced with a 1–0 victory over the Saudis on a 20th-minute header scored by Takehiro Tomiyasu and protected the lead against the majority of possession and shots held by the Saudis. The quarter-finals marked the debut of the video assistant referee (VAR) system at the Asian Cup and was used in the match between Japan and Vietnam, calling back a goal in the 25th minute for a handball and awarding Japan a penalty kick in the 57th minute, which was scored by Ritsu Doan to give the Samurai Blue a 1–0 win. Moriyasu defended the team's results after receiving criticism over the team's style of play, which relied on one-goal margins in the group stage and knockout rounds to reach the semi-finals. Playing in the semi-finals against the top-ranked Iranian team, who had yet to concede a goal, the two teams were kept to a scoreless draw in the first half. Japan made several halftime adjustments to its attack that produced a 3–0 victory and advancement to their fifth Asian Cup final. Yuya Osako netted a brace with a header in the 56th minute and a penalty kick in the 67th minute that was awarded by VAR for a handball; Genki Haraguchi then added a third goal in stoppage time to seal the team's win.
caption: Japan's starting lineup for the semi-final match against Iran
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