DOHA: Go Oiwa refused to rest on his laurels after steering his Japan team into the Under-23 Asian Cup final in Doha, Qatar, yesterday as a 2-0 win over Iraq also guaranteed his nation an eighth consecutive appearance at the Olympic Games.
Japan joined Uzbekistan in securing one of the three spots at the Paris Games with a victory that was delivered by first half goals from Mao Hosoya and Ryotaro Araki, and Oiwa stressed he has already shifted his focus to Friday's decider against Timur Kapadze's team.
"I'm proud of my players, they had done so well but my mind has already moved onto the final and we'll start preparing for that," said Oiwa.
"In the first half our team did a great job but unfortunately in the second half we needed to improve the players' positioning so hopefully we can do that better."
Hosoya gave the Japanese the lead in the 28th minute before Araki doubled the advantage 14 minutes later while Hosoya also hit the woodwork in the second half as the Samurai Blue kept the Iraqis at bay despite their efforts to find a way back into the tie.
"In defence we did quite a good job, especially the goalkeeper and the centre-backs, they did a good job," said the former Kashima Antlers coach.
"On the other side with our ball positioning I think we had fewer options to have the ball possession. We were a little bit defensive.
"At half time I spoke with the players to try to correct this kind of issue and in the next match we need to improve this."
The final will see Oiwa's team meet an opponent that features many of the players who defeated his side in the semi-finals of the 2022 edition in Uzbekistan with the coach hoping for a different outcome at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium on Friday.
"Recovery will be important as we only have three days," he said.
"Tactically we should press the ball much more when we move forward with our attack. We need to create more chances too in the next game.
"I think the difference between last time and this time is that we are very focused on the final and we're also proud of today's (yesterday's) result.
"Unfortunately two years ago we lost to Uzbekistan so we need to prepare well for the next match." --AFC