Both recorded opening round wins on Thursday, Bahrain stunning Australia 1-0 while Japan were magnificent in a 7-0 victory against China PR.
While Dragan Talajic guided Bahrain to a historic first-ever win against Australia, the West Asian side have defeated Japan twice in 13 previous meetings.
Grit and determination played a pivotal role in Thursday’s win and Talajic warned that Bahrain will need to show more of that if FIFA World Cup qualification is to be secured for the first time.
“We have to forget it (win against Australia) and move on.
“This is a marathon, we have another nine games. we will see what happens at the end but we will fight.”
Head coach Hajime Moriyasu is unlikely to tinker much with his starting lineup after the fabulous performance against China PR which saw six players get on the scoresheet.
Starters Wataru Endo, Kaoru Mitoma (2), Takumi Minamino and Takefusa Kubo scored while Daizen Maeda and Junya Ito came off the bench to find the back of the net as Japan began their bid for an eighth consecutive appearance at the FIFA World Cup in style.
Despite the huge win, Moriyasu will warn his players not to underestimate Bahrain, with the Samurai Blue also having suffered a 1-0 loss to Oman in their opening AFC Asian Qualifiers match for the 2022 edition.
“The win in today’s match doesn’t guarantee that we will qualify or mean anything before the Bahrain game,” said Moriyasu. “We should not forget to prepare at our best going into the remaining matches.
“(The Australia-Bahrain) result confirms how difficult the first match in these Asian qualifiers can be and we should never feel relaxed. That’s how I feel.”
