‘Championship candidate’ Japan fell to Iran… 1-2 upset defeat in the ‘semi-finals’ [아시안컵]

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▲ Japan’s Mitoma and Iran’s Jahanbakhshi competing for the ball in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) 2023 Qatar Asian Cup quarterfinals held at Al Rayyan Education City Stadium in Qatar on the 3rd (local time). (Newsis)

Iran defeated Japan and advanced to the semifinals.

Iran won 2-1 over Japan in the quarterfinals of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup held at the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar on the 3rd.

At the beginning of the day, Japan held the momentum. The momentum continued even better as Morita scored the first goal in the 28th minute of the first half. Japan dominated the game with 59% of the ball in the first 45 minutes.

Iran increased its offensive power to regain balance, but it was not easy. In the end, the first half ended with Japan ahead 1-0.

However, as the second half entered, Japan’s momentum began to gradually collapse. In the end, in the 10th minute of the second half, an equalizer was given to Iranian winger Mohebi, and the game came back to square one.

With that momentum, Iran succeeded in a comeback in the 18th minute of the second half, but the score was not recognized as offside. However, Iran, which clearly had momentum, continued the game by putting pressure on Japan.

As regular time came to an end in the second half, neither team scored. Overtime was expected, but Japan conceded a penalty kick to Iran in extra time, giving Iran a chance to turn the game around.

In the end, Jahanbakshi, who took the kicker, scored a goal, giving Iran a 2-1 comeback win over Japan and confirming their advancement to the semifinals.

Meanwhile, Iran, who won a ticket to the semifinals by defeating Japan, will play against Qatar or Uzbekistan at midnight on the 8th at the Assumama Stadium in Doha, Qatar.