NEWS

Japan were held to a 1-1 draw by Uzbekistan at Saitama Stadium 2002 on Wednesday in their second match of the final-round qualifiers for the FIFA 2010 World Cup.

After Australia’s 4-0 home victory over Qatar, Japan remained in second place with four points from two matches in the five-team Group A. Australia are top with six points, while Qatar are level on points with Japan but behind on goal difference. Bahrain and Uzbekistan both have one point.
The draw put an end to Japan’s winning streak in World Cup qualifiers at 10 matches.
“It’s a great shame to have drawn as we wanted to get three points,” Japan coach Takeshi Okada said.
Japan faced tough pressure from Uzbekistan from the start and the visitors’ efforts brought them the opening goal in the 27th minute.
Uzbekistan midfielder Timur Kapadze got the ball in the middle of the park and attempted a pass to his front line. Marcus Tulio Tanaka jumped in an attempt to clear the danger, but the Urawa Reds defender’s attempt fell to Uzbekistan’s Ildar Magdeev, who headed the ball into the space behind Tulio. Kapadze then latched on to the ball, dribbled up deep on the flank and sent in a cross, where the unmarked forward Maksim Shatskikh sneaked in at the far post for an easy tap-in.
  But the hosts leveled the scores in the 40th minute. Yoshito Okubo dashed forward to connect with a Shunsuke Nakamura cross and sent the ball into the middle where Keiji Tamada was on hand to finish off the move with a left-foot shot.
Boosted by the goal, Japan went on the attack. Makoto Hasebe came close with an attempt a minute later and Tulio tried to atone for his error with a header from an Atsuto Uchida cross in the 43rd minute.
After the break, Japan accelerated their attack and threatened the visitors’ goal on a number of occasions, helped by the introduction of substitutes Shinji Okazaki and Shinzo Koroki up front, and Junichi Inamoto in midfield.
Okazaki’s 68th-minute header off a Nakamura cross was accidentally deflected away his teammate Yuji Nakazawa, while Tamada hit an Okazaki header from mid-range and then had another effort that went over the bar, both in the 71st minute. Late in the half, Tulio headed a Nakamura cross but his effort was stopped by Pakhtakor goalkeeper Ignatiy Nesterov.
“We knew we would have to defend hard against Japan, and that required great patience from us, but we did that and got this result,” said Uzbekistan coach Mirdjalal Kasimov, who took the helm last month.
“I’ve had a short time to prepare, but studied Japan hard. Nakamura did what I had expected from him, creating chances with his wonderful passes on the left side, and we gave up the goal when his great pass combined with our mistake.”
“But our players did well, and every single piece of advice I got from Zico really helped us a lot,” Kasimov said of his team’s new advisor, former Japan coach Zico, who became manager of Uzbek club side Kuruvuchi late last month.
“The fact that we’ve picked up a point will boost our team. We’d like to work hard for the World Cup,” Kasimov added.
Okada said, “We created chances in the second half but couldn’t score. What I feel bad about is that our players looked hesitant under pressure. We would have had a better chance if they had played more aggressively.”
“But I believe that we are on the right track with the concept of our game and should carry on with what we are working on.”
Okada continued, “We played in order to get a cushion of six points from our first two matches. But this is football. We wanted to get them, but we couldn’t. It happens. We shouldn’t be pessimistic, and should go for three points in our next game in Qatar.”
Japan will play Qatar in Doha on November 19.

Teams:
Japan – Seigo Narazaki, Yuki Abe, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Yuji Nakazawa, Atsuto Uchida, Yasuhito Endo, Makoto Hasebe, Shinji Kagawa (Junichi Inamoto, 76th), Shunsuke Nakamura, Yoshito Okubo (Shinji Okazaki, 62nd), Keiji Tamada (Shinzo Koroki, 81st). Coach, Takeshi Okada
Uzbekistan – Ignatiy Nesterov, Anzur Ismailov, Asror Alikulov, Anvar Gafurov, Vitaliy Denisov, Odil Ahmedov (Azizbek Haydarov, 72nd), Timur Kapadze, Ildar Magdeev (Ruslan Melziddinov, 57th), Jasur Hasanov, Server Djeparov, Maksim Shatskikh (Alexander Geynrikh, 72nd). Coach, Mirdjalal Kasimov
Goals—Maksim Shatskikh (27th min) for Uzbekistan, Keiji Tamada (40th min) for Japan
Cautions—Ruslan Melziddinov, Anzur Ismailov (both Uzbekistan)
Expulsions—None
Attendance—55,142
Referee—Albadwawi Ali Hamad (UAE)