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EPL changes Asian football television programming

The sports media landscape in Asia changed dramatically on the weekend of 11-12 August as the English Premier League dropped from the schedules of many of its last remaining major free-to-air terrestrial television broadcasters. Promoters, who'd paid the EPL most of the record £625 million it received from foreign rights for 2007-2010, began to recoup their investment. In some markets, even Pay-TV stations were churned in the search for higher returns. In others, licensees are using the EPL as Rupert Murdoch's proverbial "battering ram" to lead fans to support new Pay TV operations.

In China, the change to Pay-TV had been well announced. "It's time to say goodbye to those TV channels that provided Premier League games free of charge," said WinTV Chief Executive Song Zheng in February after successfully bidding a reported US$50 million for PRC market. Song, whose station had just 40,000 subscribers, said he was confident of winning over viewers. "I know that most Chinese people have been getting used to viewing soccer matches on free channels. It will be difficult to change this habit in the beginning, but I believe that more and more people will choose pay-TV in the future." And yet, at kick-off for the new EPL season, subsidiary contracts with regional cable TV operators in major regions, including the largest city Shanghai, had yet to be concluded. A boon to a few companies offering live games via the internet, it was a scenario feared by some of England's biggest clubs who were reportedly "furious" that "limited Pay-TV audience may restrict the dynamic growth of English football in the world's most populous country."

In Indonesia, the change came as a shock. The week prior to the start of the EPL season, it was announced that ESPN-STAR Sports' arrangement with national FTA broadcaster Trans7 would not be continued. Trans7 said it "wouldn't be able to cover the cost of buying the rights even if we sold all the advertising spots, combined with other income from sponsors." But the hundreds of thousands of subscribers used to watching English football on the two ESS channels on established Pay-TV services Kabelvision and Indovision found they too would miss out. Paralleling the exclusive deal ESS made with Astro Supersport for the Malaysian market in 2001, Astro's brand new Indonesian subsidiary was suddenly announced as the new EPL sub-licensee for Asia's third largest nation for an undisclosed amount. "Our basic idea by bringing EPL into the country is to give Indonesian people access to watch the league," vice president for corporate affairs at PT Direct Vision's Astro Indonesia, Halim Mahfudz, confusingly told The Jakarta Post.

Last-minute brinkmanship also occurred in Japan where Pay-TV J Sports signed an exclusive three-year contract with Sportfive - after the first 10 games of the new Premiership season had been concluded. The Japan Times anticipated that fans would be forced to test the quality of internet transmissions or to watch illegal displays at pubs and bars and discovered venues would be tapping into a South African channel for their customers. This did not appear to concern the rights-holders. "The deal we agreed with J Sports represents a continuation of our excellent partnership in the past", said Sportfive executive vice president Robert Müller von Vultejus. EPL CEO Richard Scudamore praised the process. “We are very satisfied with the result of Sportfive’s distribution of our rights [and] welcome J Sports to the circle of partners of the English Premier League,” he said.

The manoeuverings show the formidable market power of the English Premier League throughout Asia but also provide a window of opportunity to competitors. The free-to-air broadcasters and non-EPL Pay-TV networks are filling their programming with other European football, notably Spanish, Italian and German and, increasingly domestic and regional competitions. But the EPL's competitors have significant weaknesses. How much better for La Liga marketing in Asia if Real Madrid and Barcelona collaborated? How much better for SerieA if it had a clean image for punters? How much better for Bundesliga if it hand-fed media with in-depth data and statistics?

As for domestic beneficiaries, the recent Asian Forum on Sports Innovation (www.asianfosi.com) had two messages on competing for fan loyalties with English and European football.

Claire Kenny Tipton, the Asian Football Confederation's Director of Marketing and Media and Communications pointed out that 61% of all football revenues in Asia goes to the English Premier League and, in South East Asia in particularly, the English Premiership is the most supported football product. She argued, however, against the proposition that the overwhelming broadcasting of European football somehow got fans involved in local football. “One of the problems in these countries, Indonesia excepted, is that fans don't go to stadiums. A generation of latent fans has been created. They've never been to a live football game. They don't play football. They don't have a passion for the game. They watch it on TV. They get together with their mates next door or in a coffee shop. They say they support Man United or Liverpool or Real Madrid but they'll buy the shirt and that’s it. That's where it begins and where it ends, “ she said.

The Asian Cup was brought to South East Asia “at great expense” so the Asian Football Confederation could say: “Malaysia, you can one day be as good as Japan if you put Malaysian football first; if you create a platform for domestic football. Same in Thailand and in Vietnam,” she said. It was easiest to attract spectators in Indonesia and Vietnam and difficult “as expected” in Malaysia and Thailand. But what was astonishing is that while the opening games of the group stages in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok were very poorly attended, the domestic TV ratings - with RTM in Malaysia and Channel 7 in Thailand, were huge. “The Thai matches on 7 were bigger than the World Cup ratings or the European Champions League ratings or the FA Cup final ratings,” she said.

This indicates “a culture of people who demonstrate their passion for the sport by watching it on TV,” she warned. “In South East Asia the numbers attending club matches has not increased, it has decreased. The number of children playing football has not increased. If anything in certain countries it has got worse. The commercial revenue has decreased and the television coverage has virtually disappeared.” So rather than inspiring local football, the foreign broadcasting “presses it down,” she said. .

Dez Corkhill, Director of internet content at ESPN-STAR Sport spoke of football in Asia as “fabulous” product with some as “good as anywhere in the world.” Even in Malaysia, he said, the highest rating live telecast in the past year had been an ASEAN Football Championship game between Malaysia and Singapore. “It out-rated anything from Manchester United Liverpool, Arsenal or Real Madrid … So there’s a product here. There really is.” However of the top nine highest rating games, the other eight were all English Premier League. “That's the reality facing sports organisations at the grassroots level. You've got to somehow work out a way to get into our market,” he said. “We deliver sports to the fan. Whatever sport will give us our best ratings. That’s because it makes us money and we are a business.” His advice to domestic competitions is to produce a professional product, with a clear message and with strict scheduling. “People are captivated by good audio, good video and good sport. Liga Indonesia, for instance, is great but needs to be packaged better and smarter,” he said.

EPL broadcasts in Japan started 10 games late

Pay-TV broadcaster J Sports has signed an exclusive three-year contract with Sportfive to show live English Premier League matches in Japan until the end of the 2009-10 season. This follows competitor Sky Perfect dropping EPL because of increasing costs and leaving fans wondering whether there would be live coverage in Japan this season. The J Sports deal did not conclude in time for the opening weekend, forcing many fans to watch the first round of games via the Internet or through illegal displays at pubs. This was anticipated by James Mulligan of The Japan Times who wrote last week that the lack of live satellite coverage "could cause difficulties for businesses such as pubs and bars that depend on live soccer coverage for attracting customers. There are some ingenious ways around this, though. Some bars will no doubt try to show games using Internet coverage. In Tokyo, Mark Spencer, owner of the Hobgoblin pubs and Legends Bar, will use a South African Internet channel called Supersport to show live Premier League games in his pubs and bars and said the picture quality is high."

Sportfive owns the EPL rights in Japan and was the party negotiating with broadcasters for the highest bid that ended up not including the first 10 games of the season. "The deal we agreed with J Sports represents a continuation of our excellent partnership in the past", said Sportfive executive vice president Robert Müller von Vultejus. EPL CEO Richard Scudamore also praised the system. “We are very satisfied with the result of Sportfive’s distribution of our rights. We welcome J Sports to the circle of partners of the English Premier League. We are looking forward to working together in the future,” he said.

Osim's strikerless 12 man call-up causes concern

Japan national men's football coach Ivica Osim has triggered concerns by his bare-bones squad of 12 players - and not one striker - for the 22 August friendly against Cameroon. "I don't think a half-baked selection is necessarily a good thing," Japan Football Association technical director Kozo Tajima reportedly commented. Osim responded cryptically to questions about why he opted not to include a single striker in his provisional squad. "We'll see what happens in the J-League games," he said, jabbing his ball-point pen at his inquisitors. "Scoring goals is important but we have to think of other things too."

Japan wins International U-17 Youth Championship

Japan won the Toyota International Youth Football Championship for U-17 youths played in Japan, beating the United Arab Emirates 4-0 in the final. Earlier Japan thrashed the USA 3-1 in Group A while UAE beat South Korea 3-0 in Group B on the second day of the tournament. Australia's Joeys reportedly finished fifth.

J-League's Niigata recruits Oceania teenager

A young Oceania Football Confederation player has made a rare breakthrough in the big money world of the Japan J-League with 18-year-old Micheal Fitzgerald being offered a professional contract with third-placed J-League club Niigata Arbilex. Fitzgerald, who hails from Auckland, New Zealand, has been in Japan for nearly three years and playing for Seiritsu High School Soccer Academy as a scholarship player. After being spotted by a Niigata scout, he was invited to the club for a week's trial. He joined in first team training for a week and was then offered the professional contract. Fitzergald is a graduate of the Wynrs academy, a football school in Auckland run by ex-All White and Oceania player of the century Wynton Rufer, the first New Zealander to play in the J-League.

How a manga comic hero inspired Japan's football

Japanese football fans seem to have been going crazy for their national team since the FIFA World Cup finals were staged in Japan and South Korea in 2002. But an exhibition at the Japan football museum in Tokyo suggests that some of the earliest seeds of interest in football in Japan were sown by a popular football manga series - Captain Tsubasa - a decade before even the J-League was formed in 1992. "Captain Tsubasa, also known as Kyapu-tsuba, is believed to have started helping soccer take root in Japanese society, inspiring star players such as former Japan national team captain Hidetoshi Nakata and Shunsuke Nakamura, who recently led his Scottish Premier League club Celtic to its second straight league title. The comic has even gone on to influence overseas players such as Brazil’s Ronaldinho and Italy’s Francesco Totti," wrote Ikuko Kitagawa in the Daily Yomiuri.

The exhibition, subtitled "everyone was once a Tsubasa", displays enlarged copies of key scenes from the 26-year-long series, comments from professional players who were influenced by him and copies of the comic books translated into various languages including Italian, German and Chinese. The comic, authored by Yoichi Takahashi, is a coming-of-age tale about a schoolboy, Tsubasa Ozora, who moves to Shizuoka Prefecture and joins a football team there. He finds he has to grow up quickly as he encounters teammates with strong personalities and a whole host of rivals. In the series, Tsubasa eventually goes on to make the national team. The series has continued on and off since 1981, and in the most recent series, Captain Tsubasa Golden-23, Tsubasa is depicted playing in Japan’s U-23 side at a fictional Olympic games.

Sports journalist Seijun Ninomiya told The Daily Yomiuri that over the years the comic has helped expand the football population base, including both players and supporters. “Players in my generation definitely were influenced by seeing Captain Tsubasa,” said Masakiyo Maezono, 33, who captained the national team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and is now a commentator. He recalled that through the comic books he learned a lot from Tsubasa’s playing style and global outlook. Maezono eventually played professionally in Brazil just like Tsubasa does in the manga. “I learned that ‘the ball is my friend’ from the comic. I think Captain Tsubasa has made many people feel close to football said Maezono, who is currently working on the popularisation of youth football. Freelance writer Shuntaro Fukagawa, who wrote Captain Tsubasa no Shorigaku, a book discussing what professional players can learn from characters in the comic, said the way the Japan national team plays reminds him of how Tsubasa’s team plays in the comics. “I think that almost no Japanese players play dirty such as diving elaborately, writhing around ‘in pain’ on the ground or time-wasting. I think in this way Japan’s playing style reflects Tsubasa’s desire to play fair,” Fukagawa said.

China disappoints against Japan in Olympic friendly

China's Olympic football team is still well shy of the performances it will need in order to fulfill the Chinese Football Association's goal of qualifying for the 2008 Beijing Games semifinals, Chen Xiangfeng reported for China Daily. He wrote the latest blow to the CFA's confidence came via lackluster warm-up matches against Japan and North Korea in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, last week. Despite home-soil advantage, a Chinese referee "who many believed favored the hosts" and its best possible U-22 line-up, China suffered an "ignominious" 0-1 loss to North Korea and scraped a dissapointing nil-all draw against Japan.

Japanese coach Yasuharu Sorimachiy said his heavily depleted side had used the warm-up tournament to give newcomers experience in the international arena. During the match, the well-organized Japanese outfit used pinpoint passing and superior teamwork to frequently beat China's defense, which often resorted to dangerous tackles to stop their opponents. Ironically, the Chinese referee awarded the home team 21 free kicks to Japan's eight. "It is disgusting," famous critic Ruan Xiongfei from Titan Sports wrote on his blog. "We should win by skills rather than by biased whistles. Such kind of official refereeing will not do anything good to the sport's development."

Barcelona beats Yokohama 1-0 in Asian tour

Spanish Primera Liga club Barcelona defeated Japan J-League club Yokohama in the second game of its Asian commercial tour. Brazilian substitute Giovanni Dos Santos struck the decider in the 75th minute after replacing new signing Thierry Henry.

Japan FA sets up inquiry into Asian Cup failure

Japan Football Association President Saburo Kawabuchi will assemble a special taskforce to look into the side's fourth-position finish in the AFC Asian Cup 2007, Japanese nmedia reported. Kawabuchi also questioned coach Ivica Osim's decision to leave the bench for his side's penalty shootout against Australia in the quarter-finals. "You have to ask if it's right for the coach to leave the bench for penalties," Kawabuchi was quoted in the Nikkan Sports daily. "There is no point keeping quiet about it. I am the only one who can talk to him on a level footing about things. We must appraise, debate and question things objectively."

Osim acknowledged he had left the bench before Japan's shootout with the Socceroos for fear of a heart attack but his training schedule could also be a subject of debate. The 66-year-old Bosnian often gave his players the morning off from training due to Hanoi's fierce heat but the team trained in intense humidity every evening. "They didn't even take one day off," said Kawabuchi, who called for drastic improvement ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. "They trained extremely hard between games. Is that really what we want to be doing at the World Cup too?"

Barcelona answers critics of Asian commercial tour

Italy fullback Gianluca Zambrotta has joined France defender Lilian Thuram in questioning the wisdom of Spanish Primera Liga club Barcelona's nine-day pre-season commercial tour to Asia. "It would be better to stay here and prepare really well for next season. It's a long way and it isn't easy for the players," Zambrotta told a news conference after Thuram had complained the tour "isn't good for the team's preparation." Some of Barca's players, including Brazilian playmaker Ronaldinho, blamed last August's two-week pre-season tour to the United States and Mexico as one of the reasons for their poor showing in the last campaign.

However club officials told Reuters they have planned a shorter tour with fewer commitments. They set out for Beijing on Thursday and return to Spain on 11 August after having played three friendlies in nine days. On 5 August they face China Super League club Beijing Guoan in the Chinese capital and two days later play J-League club Yokohama Marinos in Japan. On 10 August they take on the Mission Hills Invitation XI consisting of players from Kitchee and Happy Valley clubs in Hong Kong.

"We have a heritage of 150,000 members and we have to take the greatest advantage of it. There are sports-related, economic and (market) positioning reasons to go on a tour of Asia," Barcelona president Joan Laporta told a news conference. I respect all the different opinions but two years ago we did a pre-season tour to Asia and went on to win the Champions League and the Primera Liga."

Thailand trio finally get invitation from Man City

English Premier League club Manchester City has finally confirmed its invitation to three Thai players, Teerasil Daengda, Kiatprawut Saiwaeo and Suree Sukha, to trial with the club. The owners of Chon Buri football club, where Kiatprawut and Suree are under contract, recently said they had not been contacted about the issue and even Football Association of Thailand President Worawi Makudi, who was involved in negotiations, had said he had no fresh news to offer.

"We got the formal letter from Manchester City. The job now is to prepare documents for the boys so that they can apply for visas. We're also planning to send national team coach Chanvit [Pholchivin] along with them during the trip," Worawi told The Nation. The letter stated that Manchester City would take care of all the costs of the arranged trial, which is perceived as one of the gains accuring to Thai football following former Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin's takeover of the club.

Central defender Kiatprawut, however, prefers a move to Japan, where Chon Buri's ex-trainer, Withaya Laohakul, coaches Division 2 side Tori Tori. "It's a good opportunity to train in England. However, we have to accept the fact that it would be very difficult to get on the field. Withaya has continuously contacted me to join him in Japan. I'm more interested to go East rather than West, as it's better to play rather than sit on the bench," said the 21-year-old. "In Japan, besides the opportunities to play, the salary is also good. I would earn as much as Bt200,000 per month. Suree and another team-mate Adul [Lhaso] might join me in Japan."

Saudi Arabia buying support at Asian Cup final

Saudi Arabia has reportedly booked 15,000 tickets for its supporters to attend its Asian Cup final against Iraq in Jakarta on Sunday night. On Friday the Indonesian organising committee of the event confirmed that the Saudi team's management had booked 15,000 tickets costing Rp 50,000 each. Besides this, 10,000 more tickets priced at Rp 100,000 each were also reported to have been booked by World Sport Group, an intimate marketing associate of the Asian Football Confederation.

Indonesian newspapers earlier reported that only about 2,000 tickets had been sold for the match, which will be held at the 88,000 capacity Gelora Bung Karno Stadium and Antara news agency surmised the ticket purchases were made to ensure a fitting finale for Asia's premier football tournament.

The Indonesian organising committee had hoped the final would have been between Japan and South Korea as both countries have a sizeable number of their citizens in Jakarta and had subsequently and unsuccessfully tried to convince the AFC to transfer the 3/4 final between the two nations from provincial Palembang to Jakarta as a curtain-raiser for the main event.

Sth Korea regroups for 'terrible' final against Japan

South Korea's coach Pim Verbeek said his team has regrouped for Saturday's play-off against Japan for third place at the Asian Cup. "We will not give up because Korean footballers never give up. We will go for the third and fourth place match. I think it's the most terrible game there is in football, but we will go for it and we will be ready again Saturday," he told Robert Smith of AFP. "If the Korean fans think we didn't play a good tournament then the fans have to think very deeply about having a real vision of international football. I think a lot of countries would be very proud if their teams got through to the semi-final and fought until the last seconds and two times in extra-time for 120 minutes. I would be proud if I was a fan of Korean football. We were not outplayed once in this tournament, we were fighting like hell to get the good result, if people think it is not enough, then it's okay. I have no problem with that, I think it's a problem for the Korean people, not my problem."

Indonesians hope for Japan v South Korea Cup Final

Asian Cup host Indonesia wants to see South Korea and Japan contest the final in Jakarta, believing the match-up will attract the most supporters to its 88,000 capacity Gelora Bung Karno stadium. Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI) General Secretary Nugraha Besoes said he expected Korean and Japanese factory owners in Indonesia would buy tickets for their workers if the sides win their semi-final matches on Wednesday and progress to Sunday's final. "Among the Asian nations, Japan and Korea are the most crazy about football. I am sure they would bring out the masses," he said as reported by AP.

Words express how its "more than just a game"

Iraq's 2-0 victory over Vietnam in its Asian Cup quarter-final on Saturday was more than just a game. "A glorious victory," said the President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani. "I hope to congratulate you on a victory in the final," Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki said on state television. "We have a right to dream," the coach, Jorge Vieira told Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune in Bangkok, "but we have to keep our feet on the floor."

Japan's penalty win over Australia was also more than a game. Ivica Osim, the grumpy 66-year-old Bosnian who came to coach Japan after the World Cup, could not bear to watch the penalties. He went down to the dressing room, saying dramatically: "Penalties are not good for the heart, I would rather die in Sarajevo than here."

Australia v Japan breaks Australian S-TV records

The Australia v Japan AFC Asian Cup football match on Saturday night created a new Australian Subscription TV record audience with an average of 419,000 people watching the game on Fox Sports. The quarter-final had a higher average audience than any program in the history of Australian STV as well as a peak audience of 515,000 during the penalty shoot out. The match, which went right down to the wire before Australia was knocked out also attracted a total audience of 1,029,000, according to ratings recorded by OzTAM Data. These figures do not include people who watched the match at one of 3,600 Fox Sports venues around Australia.

“This is a watershed result for Fox Sports and Subscription TV,” said Fox Sports CEO David Malone. The previous STV record was 415,000 (an innings of a New Zealand v Australia Chappell Hadlee cricket match). The Australia v Japan figure follows the earlier clash between Australia and Oman, which attracted an average audience of 345,000.

Australia's excuse for loss to Japan just 'hot air'

Japan reached the AFC Asian Cup 2007 semi-finals Saturday when Yuji Nakazawa calmly slotted the winning penalty kick to give the defending champions a 4-3 shoot-out victory over fierce rivals Australia in Hanoi, Vietnam. The score was tied 1-1 at the end of 30 minutes of extra time with Australia down to 10 men after Vince Grella's controversial sending off in the 76th minute. Australian fans were shocked when their Liverpool forward Harry Kewell, missed the first penalty in the shoot-out followed by one equally astray from West Ham's Lucas Neill. Nakazawa described how he secured the game for Japan as vengeance for Australia's 3-1 World Cup defeat over Japan. "I made sure I hit it hard. I didn't want him to be able to save it even if he guessed right so I whacked it. I missed one at the last Asian Cup in 2004 but I was very cool this time. There were a lot of emotions for me because it was Australia," he said.

Australia coach Graham Arnold said the Socceroos should be proud of their performance at their first Asian Cup despite falling well short of their lofty expectations. Arnold had predicted before the tournament that the Australians could win the championship and anything less than reaching the final would be regarded as a failure. "The whole of Australia should be very proud of the players, they gave everything they had. To play against a quality team like Japan, with 10 men in these conditions is just murder. Japan played very well, they've got some quality players but they didn't really dominate us. Tactically we were ready for them and we had some opportunities but it just didn't go in."

Arnold and some players weirdly commented on how the topical conditions in South East Asia had affected them more than Japan. "Everyone's down, everyone's upset. To lose in such a way is hard but we have to learn from this," striker John Aloisi said. "It won't be easy but I'm sure the boys will learn. You also have to remember we played the Asian champions in conditions they are more used to and we were unlucky to lose." In the real world, of course, East Asian heavyweights Japan, South Korea and most of China are nowhere near the tropics and experience colder conditions than Australia and even England, where many of the stars of those teams play.

Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer put the Socceroos' effort into better perspective when he said the AFC Asian Cup had been an eyeopener "I think people underestimate how big Asia really is and how many people are playing football, how big the game is regarded in this part of the world," the Middlesbrough star, said. "I'm a little-bit wide-eyed about how good some of the performances have been from some of the players from some of the teams like Uzbekistan and Iran so far. They are good-quality teams and they'll give any team a good run for their money. I think a lot of players will have a great chance to succeed in England as well," he said.

ManU to play Urawa Reds depleted by Asian Cup

English Premier League club Manchester United arrived in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday for the first leg of its Asian tour. It will will meet a depleted Urawa Reds team tonight which has lost key players to the Japan national side currently competing in the AFC Asian Cup in Vietnam. Defenders Yuki Abe and Keisuke Tsuboi are among those on international duty, as is influential midfield linchpin Keita Suzuki. Man United will travel to South Korea after the Reds match to play FC Seoul on Friday, before taking on Shenzhen FC in Macau on 23 July and Guangzhou in Guangdong on 27 July.

Manager Sir Alex Ferguson paid tribute to the strides Japanese football has made since the inception of the J. League. "I watch Japanese football quite a lot on TV and I can see the quality," he said. "When I first came here in 1989 football was just taking off in Japan. Now we can see the progress. We played Urawa Reds two years ago in a fantastic stadium with a great pitch, and it just shows how much progress has been made in those years. The stimulus from the World Cup in 2002 has given a fresh impetus to Japan ... There is good evidence that the quality of players in Japan has improved," he told Andrew McKirdy in The Japan Times.

Japan hit Vietnam 4-1 and eager to face Australia

A year on from the FIFA World Cup in Germany, Japan will seek revenge over Australia in the AFC Asian Cup quarter-final in Hanoi; courtesy of Japan finishing top in Group B with a 4-1 win over co-host Vietnam. The opening half at My Dinh Stadium got off to a surprising start wih Vietnam taking a sixth-minute lead with an own goal by Keita Suzuki. Celtic midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura found space on the left to float over a perfect cross for Seiichiro Maki, who had the simple task of chesting the ball into an open goal. Yasuhito Endo put Japan ahead just after the half hour, rifling a free kick into the top corner from the edge of the box. Nakamura added a third seven minutes into the second half with a superb right-foot strike before Maki headed in his second from close range in the 59th minute. "If we'd have a choice of opponents, Australia would have been first on the list," Maki said. "That's the team we wanted to meet and have the chance to bury those ghosts."

Japan turns up heat to win 3-1 against UAE

Japan had a convincing 3-1 victory over United Arab Emirates in their AFC Asian Cup Group B match in Hanoi. Striker Naohiro Takahara scored twice. Celtic midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura added a third goal from the penalty spot four minutes before halftime. The Gulf Cup holders managed a consolation goal in the 66th minute through Saeed Al Kaas. "It was so hot that it was hard to play... 45 minutes was difficult enough," said Japan's Bosnian coach Ivica Osim. "But obviously the ball never gets tired. It was important that we had about 95 percent of the possession and just wore UAE down by controlling the tempo."