Both coaches are expected to make changes for the Group F top of the table clash between Uzbekistan and Japan that will settle little more than bragging rights.
Victory over the Samurai Blue and not who his team will play in the round of 16 is what Hector Cuper is focusing on as he prepares his Uzbekistan side to take on the record four-time winners of the Asian Cup.
“The most important thing is to win, it doesn’t matter if we make some changes or not,” said the former Egypt coach. “I don’t like it when people say we should play depending on which rival we will meet in the next round. It doesn’t matter to me who we are going to play.”
Both teams have guaranteed their places in the next phase of the competition after posting two wins apiece, the Uzbeks over Oman (2-1) and Turkmenistan (4-0), holding the advantage of a better goal-difference.
Japan edged past both sides, beating Turkmenistan 3-2 and Oman 1-0.
With the winners of Group F due to face either Saudi Arabia or Qatar in the round of 16 and the runners-up slated to meet Australia, attention has been drawn towards the potential opposition in the next phase of the competition.
Maya Yoshida and Japan have not been at their best thus far.
But while Cuper admitted he may choose to rest several players, he is adamant his team will still be looking to pick up all three points at Al Ain’s Khalifa bin Zayed Stadium.
“Some are saying Australia is a tough opponent, but there may be some surprises,” added Cuper.
“Even the team we think is a smaller team, at the end of the day they may win. So everything is possible in this tournament.
“If you want to win the Asian Cup you should be ready to play against any team. You should not hesitate. I coached in the Champions League and I have a lot of experience and I never used to choose to select my rivals. I used to play against any rival. The opposition don’t matter.”
Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu is also expected to make several changes to his starting line-up. Yuya Osako and Masaaki Higashiguchi continue to be ruled out due to injury, but the former Sanfrecce Hiroshima coach stressed the Japanese are targeting all three points no matter who takes to the field.
He said: “From the two matches so far we have learned some things and there are some other things we want to improve. I want to sort that out before the game and show our best performance tomorrow.”
Hector Cuper led Egypt to a first World Cup in 28 years last summer.
Despite two wins so far, his side have been far from superior, but he is hoping the Blue Samurai grow into the tournament.
“Before coming to the Asian Cup we had some differences in the physical condition between the J.League players and the players who play in Europe, so we used the training camp in Japan and after coming to UAE we were preparing to improve the conditions between the players,” he said.
“Now we’ve played two matches, their condition is better and tactically the team is getting better in each game. But in attack and defence, the quality needs to be better.
“After the previous two matches I’m thinking of changing some players as we have a concept that we have been working on in training and I’ve been sharing it with the players during our meetings.
“For the ones on the field tomorrow it’s important they have the same feelings. I don’t think things will go well when we start the game but it’s important they adapt to the opponent and that will be important in the game tomorrow.”
