AP, Seoul :
South Korea winning its third East Asian Cup on Sunday was no surprise. Japan finishing bottom of the four-team competition that included China and North Korea was less expected.
Earning just two points from three games in the Chinese city of Wuhan was a disappointing return for Japan even if the Samurai Blue was, like South Korea, experimenting with a lineup without European-based players.
South Korea collected five points, and China and North Korea took second and third with four points each as the four teams prepare for World Cup qualifiers in September.
After a closing 1-1 draw with China on Sunday evening, Japan coach Vahid Halilhodzic said that if his team’s preparations had been different, the trophy would be heading to Tokyo instead of Seoul.
“We would have won the competition had we arrived here two or three days earlier,” the Bosnian told Japan’s Kyodo News Agency. “We have many problems and we’ll try to solve them.
Japan opened the tournament with a 2-1 loss to North Korea thanks to two late goals, and then drew South Korea 1-1 before meeting the hosts.
With the tournament not recognized by FIFA, European clubs were not obliged to release their players. This meant that Japan could not call upon stars such as Italian-based Keisuke Honda and Yuto Nagatomo, Shinji Kagawa and Makoto Hasebe in Germany and Shinji Okazaki and Maya Yoshida in England.
