SAIDA, Lebanon Rampant Japan thrashed reigning Asian Cup champions Saudi Arabia 4-1 here on Saturday as Uzbekistan earned a hard-fought 1-1 draw with Qatar.
Japan coached by Frenchman Philippe "White Witch-Doctor" Troussier left the Saudis spellbound with a mesmerizing display of attacking football to get their Asian Cup campaign off to a dream start.
The win fired Japan to the top of Group C, with Saudi Arabia rooted to the bottom after Uzbekistan and Qatar shared the points in Saturday's late match, AFP reported.
Uzbekistan had skipper Mirdjalal Kasimov to thank for their result.
Kasimov curled in a superb free kick on 74 minutes to level the scores after Mohammed Gholam had put Qatar ahead.
Qatar should have secured all three points, but although they dominated for large parts of the match against a team made up of mostly Russian-based premiership players, they were unable to find a way through the Uzbekistan defense.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia had suffered their heaviest ever loss to Japan in six meetings between the two sides.
"It was a great start for us and very good for our confidence.
It was almost like a training match, the way everything went so well," said Troussier.
"But we are not going to get carried away with this. If we lose to Uzbekistan and Qatar in our remaining group matches, this result won't mean anything," he said.
"I have to thank my players. Their attitude and confidence was excellent, we always looked calm and that made me very happy especially." A 29th minute goal from Atsushi Yanagisawa opened the scoring for Japan, the midfielder drilling in Shunsuke Nakamura's perfectly weighted cross from the left.
Japan made it 2-0 seven minutes before the break, when Hiroshi Nanami formerly with Italian club Venezia but now back in Japan crossed for Naohiro Takahara.
Takahara barely broke stride before crashing in an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net past the flailing arms of Saudi custodian Mohammed al-Daeyea.
With Japan in complete control, the result was never in doubt thereafter, and Troussier's team began the second half in much the same way they finished the first.
The third goal came in the 54th minute with a lovely buildup.
Nakamura slipped a fine pass to release Yanagisawa who whipped in a low center from the left. Nanami controlled the pass, picked his spot and coolly side-footed home from eight yards as the Saudi defense scrambled to cover.
Saudi Arabia attempted to raise their game, and almost pulled a goal back through Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Sami al-Jaber whose powerful angled shot was well-saved by Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi.
Substitute Shinji Ono made it 4-0 in the final minute after a beautiful 40-meter ball played out of defense.
Saudi Arabia gained scant consolation with an own goal from Japan Captain Ryuzo Morioka seconds later.
Saudi Coach Milan Macala was downcast with the loss, and said his team had suffered through not playing regular competitive fixtures.
"Japan had played in the Olympics, and they looked very strong.
They have been in a tough competition but we have not had the same sort of level of football recently," said the Czech.