Asia Cup: Itakura and Japan lose to Iraq

Ko Itakura and the Japan national team fell to a 2-1 defeat against Iraq in their second group game of the Asia Cup.

After winning their first game in this year’s Asia Cup 4-2 against Vietnam, Ko Itakura and the Japan national team lost 2-1 to Iraq in their second group match. Itakura started for the ‘Samurai Blue’, as they fell behind after just five minutes. Iraq doubled their lead shortly before the half-time whistle. Despite the favourites looking much better in the second half, they only managed to reduce the deficit through a Wataru Endo goal in added time.

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Japan will round off their group stage campaign on Wednesday, 24th January when they face Indonesia (12:30 CET). The teams are split into six groups of four, with the top two in each group progressing to the last 16 alongside the four best third-placed sides. The final will take place on 10th February (16:00 CET). Just as in 2019, there is no third-place play-off.