As the former three times Asian Cup champion, Japan needs to show its best performance if the team is still serious about qualifying into the next stage. Earlier this month, Japan’s coach, Ivica Osim, already said that his team was not 100% prepared due to several injuries that made his key players miss selection for the AFC Asian Cup. He also complained about his squad’s fatigue due to the recently ended Japanese League. At that time everybody did not treat Osim’s words seriously, but after Japan’s disappointing draw against Qatar, the public started to doubt whether Japan are fit for the championship pursuit.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) was also criticized heavily due to its disappointing performance against the aggressive host, Vietnam. UAE is considered a top team in the Middle East, yet the team failed to prove its quality in the first match. Logically speaking, if UAE could not win against Vietnam then how could it win against Japan? Japan’s performance is far superior compared to Vietnam despite its draw against Qatar.

Japan will likely to maintain the same formation and line up in this match. Nakamura will still be the main power behind the Japanese midfield. UAE on the other hand put a lot of hope to its striker, Ismail Matar. UAE need to win this game if they are to maintain any hope of progressing in the tournament. Since Japan only has one point, a draw in this match could extend UAE’s breath a little longer. Under such heavy pressure, it’s no wonder that many soccer enthusiasts predict that UAE will be the first team in the 2007 Asian Cup who will fail to qualify into the next stage. UAE v Japan is scheduled to play on the 13^th July.