Key events
78 min Mitoma controls a long crossfield pass, cuts across Geria in the area and whacks a shot that hits Yazbek and flies behind.
Australia looked relatively comfortable at 1-0. They do not look comfortable at 1-1.
The goal was made beautifully by the substitute Keito Nakamura. He cut inside from the left, twisted Yazbek one way and then the other before sidefooting a fast low cross that was turned into his own net by Burgess. He had to play the ball with Ueda waiting behind him to score.
GOAL! Japan 1-1 Australia (Burgess 76 og)
Japan equalise through an own goal from Cam Burgess!
74 min Japan have won their last eight home games, scoring almost 40 goals in the process. Most were against inferior opposition, it’s true, but this would be still be a helluva result for Australia.
73 min: Double substitution for Australia Aziz Behich and Nishan Velupillay, who scored on his debut against China, replace Jordy Bos and Mitch Duke. Poor Duke worked his socks off on the graveyard shift.
71 min Tanaka curls a long-range shot that is easily saved by Gauci. A pleasant enough strike but nowhere near the corner.
70 min: Double substitution for Japan Daichi Kamada and Keito Nakamura replace Take Kubo and Takumi Minamino. Kubo was lively enough, Minamino had a quiet night.
68 min That’s Australia’s best bit of interplay all night, some neat one-touch football on the edge of the Japan area. It doesn’t amount to anything but maybe it’s a reflection of their growing confidence.
67 min Since the goal, Japan have been treading the line between understandable impatience and unhelpful desperation. There’s still a long way to go.
The @Socceroos take the lead in Japan!
The deadlock has been broken after a wild deflection from Shogo Taniguchi puts Lewis Miller’s cross into the back of the net
🇯🇵 #JPNvAUS 🇦🇺 is live now on Paramount+ 📺 pic.twitter.com/inlZ4S6M1B
— Paramount+ Australia (@ParamountPlusAU) October 15, 2024
65 min That was the first goal Japan have conceded in qualification, after around 14 and a half hours. And that’s not including all the added time.
64 min Ito’s clipped cross is met by Ueda, running away from goal, and he heads straight at Gauci. For all Japan’s pressure, Gauci still hasn’t had a difficult save to make.
63 min: Japan substitution Junya Ito comes on for Ritsu Doan.
62 min Jordy Bos is booked for a tactical foul on the left wing.
61 min The home fans are still making a marvellous racket. If Australia win this game it’ll make Muhammad Ali’s rope-a-dope fight with George Foreman look like a slugfest in comparison.
Lewis Miller, who has had a difficult time defensively, made a rare excursion forward and curled a dangerous cross into the middle. Taniguchi tried to clear it with his wrong foot, the right, and shanked a volley past Zion Suzuki!
GOAL! Japan 0-1 Australia (Taniguchi og 58)
Australia haven’t had a shot on target all game – and they’re ahead!
57 min: Chance for Minamino! Kubo cuts inside from the right and curls a powerful cross towards Minamino beyond the far post. He pulls away from the defender but can’t generate enough power to force his downward header on target. That was a pretty difficult chance; he’d have needed Bruce Banner’s neck muscles to generate the necessary power.
55 min Mitoma twists Miller’s blood on the left edge of the area, only to knock the ball out of play with an accidental extra touch. He remains Japan’s biggest threat, not to mention the most beautiful player to watch.
53 min Irvine makes a good interception at the near post after Kubo beats Bos stylishly on the right. Japan are starting to come to life.
52 min The danger of having the ball is that you are more susceptible to the counter-attack. Tanaka (I think) has the chance to put Mitoma through just past the halfway line but fractionally overhits his angled pass. I don’t think anyone would have caught Mitoma had the weight on that pass been better.
49 min A quiet start to the second half. Australia are trying to get on the ball, as they did at the start of the game. I don’t think it was a deliberate tactic to defend deeper and deeper as the first half progressed; it’s more than Japan parked the bus for them and then dropped the keys down a drainhole.
46 min We go again. Well, they do; we’re not really doing much.
Australia have made a half-time substitution: Pat Yazbek replaces Luke Brattan, who worked very hard on his debut but didn’t see much of the ball.
“For all the gushing praise about the J-League and Japan’s generation of Euro-stars, for me they have flattered to deceive in this game, as they so often do when required to take the initiative,” writes Chris Paraskevas. “Moriyasu and his never-changing suit and notepad much prefer an opponent that will allow more space to play on the counter.
“Popovic is calling on all of his tricks from Western Sydney’s Asian Champions League run, where they faced similiar challenges: technically superior opponents, starved of the ball.
“His shape makes sense here but some of his experienced starters are letting him down: Brattan, McGree and Irvine not sure of their roles in midfield, Duke totally isolated.
“The stage is set for Irankunda.”
Even that early chance for Kubo wasn’t as good as I first thought. Souttar was on him quickly so his only option was to thrash it towards the near post, which Gauci had covered.
Some half-time reading
Half time: Japan 0-0 Australia
Half full or half empty? Depending on your perspective and disposition, that was either an admirably disciplined defensive performance from the Socceroos or a desperate survival mission that can’t possibly last 90 minutes.
Australia were poor in possession – that’s probably being kind – but restricted Japan to a single good chance when Take Kubo hit the side netting early on. The defence have certainly earned their half-time breather.
45 min One minute of added time.
44 min The atmosphere is tremendous.
42 min Some really neat football from Japan on the left side of the area, but again Australia keep the gaps small and Souttar (I think) comes across to clear.
41 min Ueda’s header is saved by Gauci, though it was off target and he’d been penalised anyway for a foul on Burgess. That aside it was the champagne moment of the game.
40 min Another way to look at this first half is that Joe Gauci has only had one straightforward save to make. Australia have certainly defended well but I’m not sure the concentration levels required are sustainable for 95 minutes.
38 min A better couple of minutes for the Socceroos, most of which is spent in the Japan half.
36 min Doan shuffles menacingly into the area only to leave the ball behind and lose it to Burgess. Australia need half time.
34 min The corner is half cleared, then belted back across goal and just in front of a lunging Japan player at the far post. Australia are living dangerously.
33 min Mitoma runs at poor Lewis Miller again. This time he cuts inside, onto his right foot, and curls a shot that hits Geria’s shoulder and deflects behind. That may well have been going in the far corner.
31 min That was a slightly risky tackle from Itakura, who had to get between Bos and the ball and then drag it away. It would have been a penalty had he got it wrong but his timing was immaculate.
30 min Foul or not, the Socceroos aren’t keeping the ball well enough. They didn’t park the bus at the start but they have now. I don’t think that’s necessarily the plan, just a natural retreat.
Bos tries to change the mood with a thrilling run. He won the ball off Kubo near the halfway line and went straight for goal, no other thought in his mind. He reached the edge of the area before trying to slither between Taniguchi and Itakura; the latter made a really good tackle.
29 min Duke complains to the referee that Taniguchi seems to go through the back of him. The referee doesn’t give a free-kick, never mind a yellow card. I thought Duke slipped but the impassioned nature of his complaint suggests that might not have been the case.
27 min Another corner for Japan. Harry Souttar, who has already made multiple interceptions, is blowing. Kubo’s outswinging corner is headed over by Taniguchi, a tough chance as he was moving away from goal.
26 min “Do let Peter Adams know my Paramount is working (annoying for him it seems like it’s just his system),” says Dechlan Brennan. “As a side note, in Aus, we used to just have football on one pay TV channel. Now it’s four different streaming services needed. More and more like the UK.”
23 min Australia are starting to look a little strained. A cross from the right leads to a couple of mishit shots, the second of which dribbles through to Gauci.