A disappointing start for the Japanese, they would have expected to come away with all three points. After the game the Jordanians will be disappointed they only came away with a point.

Japan started brightly Keisuke Honda setting up Ryoichi Maeda after some nice interplay between the two, Maeda could only drag his shot wide, but it was a promising start.

Jordan goalkeeper Amer Shafi was called into action as talented Borussia Dortmund midfielder Shinji Kagawa cut inside from the left and unleashed a curling left foot shot that Shafi did well to catch high to his left.

The pressure continued to build Japan maybe should have been 1-0 up, Makoto Hasebe’s shot was parried by Shafi, defender Yoshida was first to react and swept the ball into the net. However the linesman raised his flag, judging Matsui was in an offside position and interfering with play. A debatable decision.

Eventually the Jordanians threatened the Japanese goal a corner was curled in from the right, no one made contact and Basem Fathi was left unmarked at the back post, he seemed to be caught by surprise and his header lacked direction and flashed past the post.

Immediately the Blue Samurai went on the attack Schalke full back Atsuto Uchida played a low ball across the edge of the box, Maeda fooled the defence with a nice dummy and Hasebe was through on goal, he really should have done better, his shot went safely into Shafi’s hands.

The old cliché goes if you have the majority of possession and chances you really need to make them count or you might regret it. Again it came true. Abdel Fattah won the ball on the left of Japan’s box, a quick dummy left Gamba Osaka’s Yoshuito Endo flailing on the floor, the midfielder took a shot and Elji Kawashima in the Japan goal could only watch as the ball deflected off Yoshida’s boot and loop over his head.

An amazing moment for the Jordan players that sparked mass celebrations, it seems the story of the Asian Cup so far would be about deflected goals. Fattah wasn’t caring though. One minute before the break Jordan found themselves 1-0 up.

The second half was all Japan as they went searching for an equaliser. Honda going close with a few free-kick attempts but nothing that would see Shafi troubled. In all honest Japan very rarely ruffled Shafi’s feathers and although they had the bulk of possession Shafi had a fairly comfortable afternoon. 15 shots off target from the Japanese tells the tale really.

The exciting Shinji Okazaki was brought on to replace Matsui with half an hour left and he went to work on the left hand side. Quickly his appearance had an impact on the game, a little bit of trickery down the left and he was past two defenders, he cut the ball back to Hasebe but off balance when he shot it was always going wide.

The game headed into injury time and again and was Okazaki with the trickery this time he won his side a corner, a crucial piece of play. Quickly Japan played it short, Hasebe was unmarked wide on the left. The cross was played high to the back post, the towering Yoshida rose highest and powered his header past Shafi and into the Jordan net.

Last gasp stuff from the Japanese, sometimes a come from behind draw at the death can feel like a victory. Terrible luck for Jordan so close to a famous win, unfortunately the game isn’t over till the final whistle and you need to defend till the end.

After the match Jordan Coach Adnan Hamad was pleased with his team’s efforts.“This was a good match and I would like to extend my thanks to my players for their good discipline on the field,”

“They played with confidence and victory was possible.

“With regards to the result it is not as good as it could have been and though it is not a bad result it is a sad one for us.

“The final score perhaps makes sense but the goal in the last minute was something we did not expect. We had high hopes of getting three points.”

Japan’s Italian manager Alberto Zacheroni wasn’t as pleased as his counterpart.

“I am not satisfied with the result. Japan controlled the match over the 90 minutes while Jordan played defensively,”

“It was the opening match and I knew it would be difficult. I knew we did not have much space on the pitch, so to cope with that we needed to speed up our play.

“We could not get a goal despite the fact we had chances and we conceded a goal through our own doing.

“We had plenty of shots so whenever we played the ball around each other we had a chance to get a goal.”

Japan play Syria next and with their shock win against Saudi Arabia, Japan will need to refocus and find their shooting boots by Thursday. Jordan will play Saudi Arabia and both teams know it is a must win game.