Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu: ‘We prepared well for a high-level Saudi team’

TOKYO: Japan’s national football team coach Hajime Moriyasu said that his team expected a “high-level performance” from Saudi Arabia and prepared accordingly in training ahead of their 2-0 win in Group B of the Asian Qualifiers for Qatar 2022.

More than 19,000 fans saw the host nation record an ultimately comfortable win over Herve Renard’s Saudi team at Saitama Stadium in the north of Tokyo, cutting the gap at the top between the two countries to just a single point.

Replying to an Arab News Japan question at the post-match press conference about his impressions of Saudi players and whether he felt they presented a consistent threat throughout the game, Moriyasu said: “Saudi Arabia, like us, was in a situation where their main players could not join the team.

“However, even though the Saudi team has lost its main players, they still had a strong ability to fight aggressively and systematically.”

The Japanese coach also said that Saudi attacks from the side in the match “forced us sometimes to fall far behind, and I was watching the game, feeling that the Saudis are a highly offensive team.”