Bahrain shocks Japan in Olympic qualifier

[Hachiko]

Oh no, I hope Blue Heaven does not get any bluer... :mad:

SAITAMA (Kyodo) Japan's hopes of qualifying for this summer's Athens Olympics suffered an unexpected setback Sunday after a 1-0 home defeat to Bahrain in Group B of the final round of Asian zone qualifiers.

http://www.japantimes.com/images/photos2004/sw20040316a1a.jpg
Bahrain's Adel Abbas acrobatically kicks the ball away from Japan's Ryoichi Maeda during their Olympic qualifier at Saitama Stadium on Sunday. Bahrain upset the home team 1-0.

Japan Times (http://www.japantimes.com/cgi-bin/getsp.pl5?sw20040316a1.htm)

[Maciamo]

Wow, that's a surprise ! :shock: I saw the beginning of the match, but eventhough Barhein played well, I ddn't expect them to defeat Japanese at home. I guess Japanese were also too confident against such a small country which was even qualified for the World Cup 2 years ago. So what is their next match(es) ?

[Oneyaka]

man that sucks big time

[thomas]

Actually Bahrain was superior right from the start, their winning goal was a true beauty. I agree with Maciamo that the Japanese team appeared to be too confident after their recent victories.

[Hachiko]

That is what we call complacency. :auch: