SOCCER - JAPAN GET LUCKY WIN , CHINA IN SURPRISE DEFEAT .
Nadim Ladki
AL-AIN , United Arab Emirates 1996-12-06
Japan began the defence of their Asian Cup title with a lucky 2-1 win against Syria in a Group C championship match on Friday .
But China saw their luck desert them in the second match of the group , crashing to a surprise 2-0 defeat to newcomers Uzbekistan .
China controlled most of the match and saw several chances missed until the 78th minute when Uzbek striker Igor Shkvyrin took advantage of a misdirected defensive header to lob the ball over the advancing Chinese keeper and into an empty net .
Oleg Shatskiku made sure of the win in injury time , hitting an unstoppable left foot shot from just outside the area .
The former Soviet republic was playing in an Asian Cup finals tie for the first time .
Despite winning the Asian Games title two years ago , Uzbekistan are in the finals as outsiders .
Two goals from defensive errors in the last six minutes allowed Japan to come from behind and collect all three points from their opening meeting against Syria .
Takuya Takagi scored the winner in the 88th minute , rising to head a Hiroshige Yanagimoto cross towards the Syrian goal which goalkeeper Salem Bitar appeared to have covered but then allowed to slip into the net .
It was the second costly blunder by Syria in four minutes .
Defender Hassan Abbas rose to intercept a long ball into the area in the 84th minute but only managed to divert it into the top corner of Bitar 's goal .
Nader Jokhadar had given Syria the lead with a well-struck header in the seventh minute .
Japan then laid siege to the Syrian penalty area for most of the game but rarely breached the Syrian defence .
Bitar pulled off fine saves whenever they did .
Japan coach Shu Kamo said : ' ' The Syrian own goal proved lucky for us .
The Syrians scored early and then played defensively and adopted long balls which made it hard for us . '
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Japan , co-hosts of the World Cup in 2002 and ranked 20th in the world by FIFA , are favourites to regain their title here .
Hosts UAE play Kuwait and South Korea take on Indonesia on Saturday in Group A matches .
All four teams are level with one point each from one game .