TOKYO - Japan praised Italian coach Alberto Zaccheroni after a sleepless night on Sunday, saying his shrewd and timely use of squad players helped the Blue Samurai lift a record fourth Asian Cup.

Hundreds of fans celebrated in the streets of Tokyo's all-night hub, Shibuya, after extra-time substitute Tadanari Lee scored a 109th-minute goal, powering Japan to a 1-0 win over Australia in the final in Doha.

"Nippon! Nippon!" they chanted, some of them waving red-sun Japanese flags, after the match ended at about 2:30 am on Sunday (Japan time). Sports bars and public halls in big cities across the country were filled with fans watching the match live on television.

"Japan, the champions of Asia," read the banner headline in a four-page special issued by the influential daily Asahi Shimbun, as the news of the victory came too late for the Sunday newspapers.

"Zaccheroni has used many players and controlled their motivation," said sports writer Tetsuo Nakanishi, adding the 57-year-old former AC Milan boss used 21 of the 23 players in his squad in the continental showpiece.

"He is courageous enough to use young players," he told a Sunday morning show on the TBS network.

Sergio Echigo, the doyen of football commentators in Japan, said on the TV Asahi network: "Manager Zaccheroni has led his overworked team calmly and without haste to this day and his substitution just hit the mark."

Zaccheroni, nicknamed "Zac", said after the match: "What is great about this team is that players who started on the bench could produce results on the pitch."

In the 3-2 quarterfinal win over host Qatar, he brought Masahiko Inoha into the starting line-up for the first time and the defender scored the winner on the stroke of stoppage time.

Zacchernoni sent on midfielder Hajime Hosogai after 87 minutes in the semifinal against South Korea.

Hosogai scored Japan's second goal 10 minutes later but South Korea equalized in the 120th minute before the Blue Samurai beat the Taeguk Warriors 3-0 on penalties.

Against the Socceroos, the Italian coach moved hard-working Cesena fullback Yuto Nagatomo into midfield and Nagatomo supplied the cross for Lee to volley home the winner.

"We've seen different heroes on different days. And there has been the scrupulous commander behind the scenes," said the Nikkan Sports daily.

"We made a good start to the 2014 World Cup," Japan Football Association President Junji Ogura told Japanese media in Doha. "I really feel we have chosen a great coach."

The organization spent months looking for a successor to Takeshi Okada after Japan reached the World Cup last-16 in South Africa in June.

It signed Zaccheroni on a two-year deal with an option of two more years, despite a lack of experience abroad and at international level.

He previously coached 13 Italian teams, including Serie A sides Lazio, Inter Milan and Juventus, but is without a trophy since piloting AC Milan to the 1999 Scudetto.

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 01/31/2011 page24)