ABU DHABI: Qatar and Japan won their opening games at the Asian Cup on Wednesday, but for both teams it’s all about 2022. Quite literally for Qatar, who are hosting the next World Cup that year and scored their first goal at 8:22pm or 2022 Qatar time.

Japan’s quest for a record fifth title started with a 3-2 victory over Turkmenistan, while Qatar earned a 2-0 win over Lebanon amid political tension with the host nation.

After giving up an early goal, Japan, who have a young squad that’s been rebuilt with an eye on the next World Cup, scored three in quick succession to turn the game around.

Yuya Osako scored in the 56th and 60th minutes, the latter following a goalkeeping error, and Ritsu Doan made it 3-1 in the 71st.

Arslanmurat Amanov scored with a long-range shot to give Turkmenistan the Asian Cup’s second lowest-ranked team the lead in the 26th minute. Ahmet Atayev converted a penalty kick toward the end after a foul by Japan goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda.

After losing to Belgium in the last-16 of the World Cup, Japan are trying to rebuild. Coach Hajime Moriyasu left some experienced players off the team for the Asian Cup, including midfielder Shinji Kagawa and forward Shinji Okazaki. He is instead giving more prominence to players like Gonda, whose last competitive international game was in 2013.

Japan are unbeaten in six games since the World Cup, five of those victories.

“At the break I went over the first half and told my players about our transition play, the battle around the ball and the need to read the game better than we had been doing,” said Moriyasu.“We made it difficult for ourselves after conceding the goal.”

In the other Group ‘F’ match, Uzbekistan beat Oman 2-1. Eldor Shomurodov scored the winning goal in the 85th minute.

Uzbekistan finished the match with 10 men after defender Egor Krimets was sent off in stoppage time for fouling an opposing player who was through on goal.

Qatar dominated possession but lacked a cutting edge against Lebanon before Iraqi-born Bassam Al-Rawi curled in a free kick in the 65th. Almoez Ali made it 2-0 from a rebound 14 minutes later.

Earlier, Lebanon thought they had scored their first major-tournament goal since 2000 through Ali Hamam at a corner, but it was ruled out for a foul away from the ball.

It was the first time in 35 years that Qatar won an Asian Cup game while not being the hosts.Saudi Arabia stayed top of Group ‘E’ ahead of Qatar thanks to their 4-0 win over North Korea on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2019