DUSHANBE, October 11, 2011, Asia-Plus — Mr. Masakhiro Shimoda, acting director of the Japan Football Association, is sure that Japan will win today’s match against Tajikistan at the Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan.
“We have carefully studied our competitors in Group C and I attended the match of Tajik national football team against Uzbekistan in Tursunzoda,” Mr. Shimoda said in an exclusive interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, there are good football players in the Tajik national team but they do not have enough experience. “In the match against Uzbekistan, Tajik football players showed that they may competently act on the defensive, however, Japan will win,” the JFA acting director noted.
Mr. Shimoda is sure that the Japan national soccer team will advance to the next round of Asian qualifying without any problems.
We will recall that a total of 20 teams are playing the third stage in 5 groups of 4 with the top five seeds Japan, South Korea, Australia, North Korea and Bahrain. A total of 20 teams will play the third stage in 5 groups of 4. The top 2 teams from each of the 5 qualifying groups will advance to round 4 of Asian qualifying. The 10 qualifiers will be drawn into 2 groups of 5. From these two groups, the top two teams will qualify for the World Cup final stages in Brazil. The best 3rd place team will then contest an inter-confederation two leg play-off for a chance to go through.
