The final day of round of 16 fixtures at the Asian Cup will begin with Bahrain taking on Japan on Wednesday at Al Thumama Stadium.

A 1-0 victory over Jordan on matchday three was enough to see Bahrain finish top of Group E with six points, the same as Japan, though the record four-time Asian Cup winners wound up second in Group D despite a 3-1 triumph versus Indonesia.

Match preview

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After a tough opening loss to South Korea, Bahrain bounced back nicely, winning their final two matches by a 1-0 score and finishing at the top of their group for the first time in this competition.

It is a big contrast from what Juan Antonio Pizzi's men showed us in their games leading up to this tournament, losing their final two preparatory matches 2-0 both times.

Wednesday will only be their third appearance in the knockout stage of his tournament, and they have only won their opening Asian Cup knockout fixture once before, outlasting Uzbekistan on penalties in 2004 (4-3) after that game ended in a 2-2 draw.

In the opening phase of this competition, the Pearl Divers did something no Bahrainis side had done before, win consecutive Asian Cup fixtures.

Bahrain have won their last five matches in all competitions when scoring the opening goal, without a single goal conceded over that stretch.

They have yet to get the better of a Japanese side on the international stage since earning a 1-0 triumph against the Samurai Blue in January 2009.

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Japan took care of business on matchday three, claiming a comfortable victory to advance into the knockout stage for a ninth successive occasion.

Although they conceded to the Indonesians on their only effort on target, the Samurai Blue rarely looked troubled, winning at least two matches at the group stage of this tournament for the eighth straight time.

The Japanese have won their opening knockout fixture in five of the last six editions of this competition, with their only defeat over that stretch coming in a shootout versus the United Arab Emirates (5-4) in 2015.

After seeing their 11-match winning run in all competitions end against Iraq on matchday two (2-1 loss), Hajime Moriyasu's men looked a lot more like themselves versus Indonesia, netting three or more goals for the sixth time in their last seven encounters.

While they have been an offensive juggernaut over the past few months, this team have kept the opposition off the scoresheet in three of their last four knockout fixtures at the Asian Cup.

The Samurai Blue have won four of their last five contests against Bahrain, including a thrilling 4-3 extra-time triumph in the 2004 semi-finals, the only previous time these two teams faced each other in the knockout portion of this tournament.

Team News

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Amine Benaddi sat out of another Bahrain encounter last Thursday as the 30-year-old is still dealing with a knock sustained in their opening match versus South Korea.

There were three newcomers in the Bahrain starting 11 on matchday three, with Abdullah Al-Khalasi, Jasim Al-Shaikh and Abdulla Yusuf Helal replacing Hazza Ali, Moses Atede and Abdullah Al-Hashsash.

Yusuf Helal had the only goal in their victory versus Jordan, his 13th for the national team, while Ebrahim Lutfalla stopped all three shots that he faced for his second successive clean sheet.

Kaoru Mitoma sat out of the previous encounter for Japan as he is still recovering from an ankle injury, while Takefusa Kubo and Wataru Endo were the only two players who began matchday two to feature in the starting 11 against Indonesia.

Takuma Asano can reach 50 caps for the Samurai Blue on Wednesday, Takehiro Tomiyasu is one away from 40, while Ko Itakura is one shy of 25.

A brace by Ayase Ueda and an own-goal courtesy of Justin Hubner was all the Japanese would need to get past the Indonesians on matchday three.

Bahrain possible starting lineup:
Lutfalla; Adel, Baqer, Al Hayam, Ali; Al-Shaikh, Al-Wali; Madan, Al-Aswad, Marhoon; Yusuf Helal

Japan possible starting lineup:
Suzuki; Sugawara, Itakura, Tomiyasu, H. Ito; Endo, Morita; J. Ito, Kubo, Minamino; Ueda

We say: Bahrain 1-4 Japan

Japan may not have been as convincing as we had expected in the opening phase of this tournament, but they know how to turn it on in these big games, and we expect them to be sharper in the attack, knowing it is a must-win game.

Bahrain have held their own throughout this tournament, but their lack of experience in these big matches will make it difficult for them to stay with a side who possess numerous attacking options.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Joel Lefevre

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