![]() ![]() South Korea and Iraq take a point each from the game, with Iran due to play Syria and the United Arab Emirates facing Lebanon in Group A later in the day. Hwang Hee-chan later squandered the opportunity to seal the win when, with time and space, he could only find the arms of goalkeeper Fahad Talib to meet Hong Chul's cross. ![]() In a game of few chances, Hwang Ui-jo saw his first-half header cleared off the line by Sherko Karrem before Lee Jae-sung fired the rebound over the bar from close range. The South Koreans, meanwhile, struggled to break down Dick Advocaat's Iraq in the teams' opening meeting in Group A in Seoul. The home side looked set to hold on for a point until Al Yahyaei sprinted past Gaku Shibasaki down the right to send in a pinpoint cross for Al Sabhi to steer home, earning Branko Ivankovic's side the win. The Japanese also saw referee Mohammad Abdulla Hassan overturn a penalty initially awarded against Yuto Nagatomo for handball, the spotkick cancelled out after the official consulted the pitchside monitor. Junya Ito was denied at the other end by Faiyz Al Rashidi, who also dropped to his left to keep out Yuya Osako's low curling effort from distance with a quarter of the game remaining. ‘They could tour here when they still felt fresh and were full of energy.Both teams struggled in wet conditions, but it was Japan's Shuichi Gonda who was the busiest of the two goalkeepers keeping out efforts from Rabi Al Alawi and Ali Al Busaidi. ‘We are lucky for being first up on the list,’ said Japan Football Association general secretary Kohzo Tashima. The FIFA inspectors spent the first half of the visit in the western city of Osaka where they saw the site for an 83,000-seat solar-powered stadium, tentatively called Osaka Ecology Stadium, which would be used for the opening match and the final in 2022. ‘We could show the team members our nationwide wish to invite the 2022 World Cup.’ ‘A considerable number of political and business leaders attended the dinner, which was very pleasant and cordial,’ Inukai said. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Naoto Kan hosted a dinner for the FIFA team and confirmed his government’s full support for the bid. He added that the FIFA inspectors were shown several interim sample gadgets for 3-D public viewing at a presentation earlier Thursday.Īnother highlight of Japan’s bid is a plan to invite 6,000 children from the 208 countries to watch matches, participate in football clinics and learn about environmental issues and world peace with trips to the atomic-bombed cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. ‘Japan is leading the world in developing such technology,’ said Japan Football Association president and bid committee chief Motaki Inukai. The games will be shown on giant screens at the stadiums and, pending anticipated technological development in the years ahead, may even be projected like real matches on to the pitch itself. ![]() Japan’s bid features a six-billion-dollar ‘Universal Fan Fest’ project to allow 360 million people worldwide to view matches live in three-dimensional telecasts at nearly 400 select stadiums in FIFA’s 208 member countries. Japan, South Korea, Australia and Qatar, all members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), have submitted bids for 2022 only, while the others are campaigning for both - amid growing expectations Europe will get the 2018 edition after Brazil in 2014. It will draw up a technical report on the bids for FIFA’s 24 executives, who on December 2 in Zurich are due to choose the hosts for the 20 World Cups. The team, including FIFA event management chief Juergen Mueller and marketing head David Fowler, next visits South Korea, Australia, joint bidders Netherlands-Belgium, Russia, England, Spain-Portugal, the United States and Qatar. Mayne-Nicholls, the Chilean Football Federation president, also told a news conference that his five-member team had realised anew the ‘professionalism’ with which football has been developed in Japan. ‘We must say that the bid is a very balanced project, mixing football traditions, modern stadiums plus new technology with eco projects and integration with the world,’ said the team’s leader, Harold Mayne-Nicholls. The group of inspectors from football’s governing body made the comments as they wrapped up a four-day visit to Japan, the first leg of their two-month tour of nine candidates vying to host the 20 World Cups. ![]()
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