Japan

Image by Thómas Tan via Flickr

By their high standards a fourth-place finish at the last AFC Asian Cup was a disappointment for Japan and it also meant that they missed out on automatic qualification to Qatar 2011.
The three-time continental champions booked their place in the finals by topping Group A with an impressive record of five wins and one defeat but the Blue Samurai made a sluggish start to their campaign as they laboured to a 2-1 home win over Yemen before going down 1-0 to perennial rivals Bahrain in Manama.
An emphatic 6-0 home win over Hong Kong followed by a 4-0 triumph in the former British colony sealed qualification before an experimental side needed a hat-trick from substitute Sota Hiroyama to come from two goals down to defeat an improved Yemen 3-2 in Sana’a.
Head coach Takashi Okada brought the big guns back for their final match and the move paid off as Japan extracted revenge for their earlier defeat with a 2-0 win over Bahrain, who by that stage had also already qualified.