Japan National Team: 2000 Asian Cup
Japan 1 - 0 Saudi Arabia

Date: Oct 14, 2000 Location: Rabat, Morocco Japan 1 1 1H 0 0 2H 0 0 Saudi Arabia Mochizuki (30') Scoring -- Cautions -- Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Ryuzo Morioka, Naoki Matsuda, Yoshiharu Ueno (Atsuhiro Miura 45'), Koji Nakata, Shunsuke Nakamura, Teruyoshi Ito (Daisuke Oku 45'), Hidetoshi Nakata, Hiroshi Nanami (Kazuyoshi Miura 75'), Akinori Nishizawa (Atsushi Yanagisawa 63'), Shoji Jo (Tatsuhiko Kubo 71'). TBA

As noted in our report on the pool round match against Saudi Arabia, the Saudis had not expected the sort of lively passing and pressure that Japan used throughout this tournament, and were caught off guard in the first contest. However, the final was quite a different affair. The Saudi team was at the end of a decade-long dynastic reign (they had won two of the previous three Asian Cups and performed well at the 1994 World Cup, too), and they had many talented and experienced veteran players in the final national team tournament appearance of their careers. They played a very cagey, defensive set and looked to snatch a goal on the counterattack using their speedy wings and height advantage.

However, a first-half goal by Shigeyoshi Mochizuki, on a corner kick, put Japan in a strong position and forced the Saudis to alter their strategy somewhat. In the end, they simply could not create offence of their own without leaving dangerous space for Japan to use on the counter, and in the end, the team's cautious nature took its toll. The Saudis were unable to crack the Japan defence, and Japan claimed its second Asian Cup title