4. Two sides united by sense of injustice
While Thailand were furious at the referee's performance in Riyadh, the Japanese were left nursing an even greater sense of injustice after the 2-1 defeat to the U.A.E. in Saitama. The hosts were denied an equaliser when Takuma Asano's shot crossed the line before being scooped out by U.A.E. keeper Khalid Eisa. The Japanese Football Association have reportedly filed a protest over the performance of the match officials.
The Japanese generally felt that referee Abdulrahman Al-Jassim favoured their opponents throughout, the U.A.E. levelling with a contentious free kick and taking the lead from a soft penalty. The home side were then denied what looked a stonewall penalty before the linesman failed to do his job properly when Asano struck. After the game, Japan's head coach Vahid Halilhodzic said, "I don't know what to say about the referee. It's not easy to accept his decisions."
It will be interesting to see how the players respond if decisions begin to go against them on Tuesday, but the coaching teams will have to work hard to transform the negative energy into motivation.