Japan Wins First Ever Point in World Cup Finals

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, June 05, 2002

Japan Wins First Ever Point in World Cup Finals

Japan grabbed their first ever point in the World Cup finals as the co-hosts held Belgium to a 2-2 draw in an action-packed Group H game on Tuesday.

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Japan grabbed their first ever point in the World Cup finals as the co-hosts held Belgium to a 2-2 draw in an action-packed Group H game on Tuesday.

About 40 minutes after China went 2-0 down to Costa Rica in theSouth Korean city Kuwangju, Japan became the only unbeaten side ofthe three Asian teams who had already made their appearances in this World Cup.

Saudi Arabia were humiliated by Germany 8-0 last Saturday, tarnishing the image of Asian soccer. South Korea are now playing against Poland.

Belgian captain Marc Wilmots put the Red Devils ahead in the 57th minute with an acrobatic scissor-kick, but their lead was canceled by Takayuki Suzuki two minutes later.

Spurred on by a hysterical crowd, Junichi Inamoto gave Japan a 2-1 lead in the 68th minute on a superb solo effort.

But in the 72nd minute Peter Van Der Heyden shook off his marker to connect a through-pass and chip his shot over Japanese goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki into the net.

With four minutes to go, Inamoto struck the ball into the net after a zigzagging run in the box but the referee disallowed the goal for an earlier foul.

Japan coach Philippe Troussier said he had wanted to win but was nonetheless satisfied with a tie.

"This is a historic moment. This is Japan's first point at the World Cup finals," said the Frenchman. "It is a precious point."

Japan had lost all three matches in their World Cup debut in 1998.

"We played to win but I am satisfied," he added.

Troussier said that Japan hoped to emerge from Group H, which besides Belgium includes Russia and Tunisia.

"We are the challengers. Everything is possible," he said.

Belgian defender Eric Deflandre admitted that Belgium made lifedifficult for themselves as they wasted a 1-0 lead and were held 2-2.

"We had the match in our hands but it turned," he said.

Deflandre also talked about Inamoto's goal.

"I tried to get him. But if I'd have brought him down I would have received the red card," said Deflandre.

Teams:

Japan: 12-Seigo Narazaki, 3-Naoki Matsuda, 4-Ryuzo Morioka (17-Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, 73), 5-Junichi Inamoto, 7-Hidetoshi Nakata,11-Takayuki Suzuki (8-Hiroaki Morishima, 71), 13-Atsushi Yanagisawa, 16-Koji Nakata, 18-Shinji Ono (14-Alex, 64), 21 Kazuyuki Toda, 22-Daisuke Ichikawa.

Belgium: 1-Geert De Vlieger, 4-Eric Van Meir, 6-Timmy Simons,7-Marc Wilmots, 8-Bart Goor, 10-Johan Walem (9-Wesley Sonck, 71),11-Gert Verheyen (20-Branko Strupar, 83), 12-Peter Van Der Heyden,15-JackyPeeters, 16-Daniel Van Buyten, 18-Yves Vanderhaeghe.

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