Saudi Arabia may find it difficult to beat defending champions Japan depending on individual brilliance when the two Asian giants meet at the semi-final of the AFC Asian Cup on Wednesday.
Although the Saudis will certainly be filled with strong desire to revenge their 2000 defeat in the final of the continent's biggest soccer tournament, they are likely to be overshadowed by the Japanese super ability in ball possession.
"Control the ball, and you control the game," Spanish coach Luis Aragones told his guys. With the similar way and understanding of the sport, Ivica Osim's side have displayed unparalleled skills up to now.
Japan have real teamwork, passing the ball round continuously and controlling the rhythm for most part of the matches to make their rivals wither down under the extreme Southeast Asian weather. As lots of useless runs in the heat and moisture is prone to get players early exhaustion, the Japanese saunter on the turf and create threats with high efficiency.
The scene are likely to repeat on the Saudis, whose advantage derived from individual panache. Yasser Al Qahtani, skipper of the team with a nicknam of "sniper", have the power to destroy any Asian defence line single-handedly. With three pretty goals from four matches, the striker will test Japan's central backs to the utmost degree.
Offensive midfielder Saud Khariri is another dangerous player, his vision and neat skills may put further trouble on the Japanese.
But Japan have some experienced defenders, and the defence line led by Yuji Nakazawa is hard to beat. If the game goes smoothly, Japanses will take advantage of ball possession and sudden rhythm change to carve open the defence.
As a whole the Japanese side have bigger chances to go through to the final.
Source: Xinhua
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