text: SOCCER - LATE GOALS GIVE JAPAN WIN OVER SYRIA. AL-AIN, United Arab Emirates 1996-12-06 
   Two goals in the last six minutes gave holders Japan an uninspiring 2-1 Asian Cup victory over Syria on Friday. Takuya Takagi headed the winner in the 88th minute of the group C game after goalkeeper Salem Bitar spoiled a mistake-free display by allowing the ball to slip under his body. It was the second Syrian defensive blunder in four minutes. Defender Hassan Abbas rose to intercept a long ball into the area in the 84th minute but only managed to divert it into the top corner of Bitar's goal. Syria had taken the lead from their first serious attack in the seventh minute. Nader Jokhadar headed a cross from the right by Ammar Awad into the top right corner of Kenichi Shimokawa's goal. Japan then laid siege to the Syrian penalty area and had a goal disallowed for offside in the 16th minute. A minute later, Bitar produced a good double save, first from Kazuyoshi Miura's header and then blocked a Takagi follow-up shot. Bitar saved well again from Miura in the 37th minute, parrying away his header from a corner. Japan started the second half brightly but Bitar denied them an equaliser when he dived to his right to save Naoki Soma's low drive in the 53rd minute. Japan: 19 - Kenichi Shimokawa, 2 - Hiroshige Yanagimoto, 3 - Naoki Soma, 4 - Masami Ihara, 5 - Norio Omura, 6 - Motohiro Yamaguchi, 8 - Masakiyo Maezono (7 - Yasuto Honda 71), 9 - Takuya Takagi, 10 - Hiroshi Nanami, 11 - Kazuyoshi Miura, 15 - Hiroaki Morishima (14 - Masayuki Okano 75). Syria: 24 - Salem Bitar, 3 - Bachar Srour; 4 - Hassan Abbas, 5 - Tarek Jabban, 6 - Ammar Awad (9 - Louay Taleb 69), 8 - Nihad al-Boushi, 10 - Mohammed Afash, 12 - Ali Dib, 13 - Abdul Latif Helou (17 - Ammar Rihawiy 46), 14 - Khaled Zaher; 16 - Nader Jokhadar.
competitors: M & T Bank