Qatar and the UAE had also won 2006 Asian Games and 18th Arabian Gulf Cup, effectively putting Japan on board with two other champions outside host Vietnam. However, Japan opened their accounts unimpressive with just a 1–1 draw to Qatar, which made Ivica Osim to label his players as "amateur". Japan went on to beat the UAE 3–1 and Vietnam 4–1, the latter would join Japan into the quarter-finals. Japan later took vengeance on Australia by defeating the Socceroos 4–3 in the penalty shootout in Hanoi. However, within the same stuff, Japan lost to eventual runners-up Saudi Arabia 2–3 and had to play the third-place match, when they lost on penalty shootout this time, 5–6, to rival South Korea. After just won 4th place four years before, Japan had to take part on the qualification round, where they won first to qualify for the tournament. Once again, Japan was placed with Saudi Arabia, alongside Jordan and Syria, both had not participated four years ago. However, Japan was stunned by Jordan after just a 1–1 draw, drew criticisms from the fans and coach Alberto Zaccheroni had to change tactics to suit the situation. The match with Syria had also drawn criticisms later due to poor performance of Japanese players, despite winning 2–1. Nonetheless, these criticisms vanished when Japan destroyed Saudi Arabia 5–0 to march into the quarter-finals facing host Qatar. In the quarter-final match, Japan suffered even a red card and two goals-lead by Qatar, but in the end Japan fought back and won 3–2, eliminated host Qatar from the tournament. Japan would make up meeting with old rival South Korea, where they drew 2–2 after 120 minutes before winning 3–0 on penalty shootout and went into the final. In the final, Japan met Asia's no.1 ranking team, Australia. Nonetheless, despite heavy pressures from the Socceroos, Japan withstood and at the extra time, Tadanari Lee scored the only goal in the match, helping Japan to claim the title for the fourth times, became the most successful team in the tournament's history. Keisuke Honda was awarded as the most valuable player in the tournament. Having won four titles, Japan was considered as the contender for the next title in the 2015 Asian Cup, where they were drawn with debutant Palestine, 2011 rival Jordan and former champion Iraq. With experiences, Japan was not hard to dominate the group stage. Japan defeated Palestine 4–0, Iraq 1–0 and Jordan 2–0 to win the group with full nine points and no goal conceded.