Number Magazine Marks 20th Anniversary of Duha Tragedy as Former Football Heroes Reveal Scars
In the November 29, 2013 edition of TOKKA's Honsha column, an article written by Osullivan looks back at a tragedy in the history of Japanese soccer. This October 28th, marks the 20th anniversary of the Duha tragedy, so let's look back at that history.
Image Rewind (click to watch the moment in Doha on October 28, 1993)
After the match, Saburo Kawabuchi (then chairman of the Intensive Committee of the Japan Football Association, now top advisor and president of the J-League) sat on a couch in the lobby of Al-Ahly Stadium in silence. The journalists surrounding him seemed to be engulfed by the silence around them as well. That night, all Japanese were experiencing the heavy loss of losing their World Cup tickets. Japan had almost qualified for the 1994 World Cup, and with only 30 seconds to go, being headed in for the tying goal, all their dreams were instantly dashed.
Back in the spring of 1993, Japan returned home in high spirits after passing the first stage of the World Cup Asian out-of-conference tournament in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Immediately afterward, the J-League was officially established, and the players, physically and mentally exhausted, were quickly thrown back into the frenzy of professional sports. The J-League completed 27 rounds of matches before the first half of September to allow for a rest period for the final qualifiers. Former Urawa player Masahiro Fukuda, known as "Mr. REDS," recalled, "Even though the fitness coach said we shouldn't play anymore, how could you say you wanted to rest in that atmosphere?" Goalkeeper Matsunaga established that, "All in all, I couldn't let the J-League fail, and one game at a time, I had to move the crowd." And that mood became the element of that final, fatal corner kick: physical, mental exhaustion.
Oct. 15, Saudi Arabia; Oct. 18, Iran; Oct. 21, North Korea; Oct. 25, South Korea; Oct. 28, Iraq. Japan faced enormous pressure in five consecutive final qualifiers. Left back Toshifumi Tojinami was injured in the middle of the year, and Japan's team supervisor Ooft was slow to find a suitable replacement for Chirashi Miura, who had been able to work well with Chirashi Miura, who was accustomed to moving on the left side of the field, and Ramos Rukui, who was the first naturalized foreigner international to play in the tournament. Eventually, Tainen Miura (Chira Miura's own brother and current Tokyo V supervisor) started the first two games, but was constantly hit with the ball behind him and weakened in both offense and defense, resulting in two draws and one loss, leaving Ooft Japan at the bottom of the rankings.
"Before the tragedy, what could have been a great, great show ......"
Ooft made changes and personnel changes for the third game. Fukuda and Miura Tainen were put on the bench, and Katsuya Suyen came in at left back, and his input with Kenta Hasegawa fermented, along with Miura Chira and Nakayama Masashi's activation, to first beat North Korea 3:0, and then four days later, thanks to Miura's deciding goal, 1:0, for the first time ever to beat South Korea in a World Cup qualifying match (which was referred to by the South Korean media as "Another national shame day since the merger of Japan and South Korea"). (the Korean media called it "another day of national shame since the merger of Japan and South Korea"). With two wins, one draw and one defeat, they instead joined Saudi Arabia in the lead with five points.
(Merger of Japan and Korea: In 1910, the Korean Peninsula was incorporated into Japan's territory and Japan annexed what is now North and South Korea.)
Then came the fateful October 28th. The five matches of the final qualifier of the session were relayed by the five major private TV stations. After the first two matches, the staff of TV Tokyo, which was in charge of broadcasting the fifth match, was in an atmosphere of "it might be a digestible match (elimination, lack of conversation)". If they lost the third match against North Korea, they were ready to go back to their home studios to record the match. But no one expected to see two victories in a row, and the winner was South Korea, and the door to the World Cup finals for the first time was not far from their eyes. ......
rankings
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total credits earned by student
胜
和
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goal difference (in soccer)
score a goal
Japan
Saudi Arabia
Korea from the fall of the Joseon dynasty in 1897
Iraqi
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Korean Joseon or Chosun dynasty 1392-1910
