NEWS

Japan battled to a 0-0 draw with the Czech Republic in their second and final game of the three-nation Kirin Cup friendly tournament on Tuesday night at Yokohama International Stadium.

All three games involving Japan, the Czech Republic and Peru ended 0-0 and the title was shared among the three teams.
With coach Alberto Zaccheroni again trying a 3-4-3 system, the Japanese players struggled to find their form.
The Czechs were without several regular players, but put on a determined performance and came close in the ninth minute when Jan Rajnock headed a Michal Kadlec free-kick over the bar.
Japan, who are looking ahead to World Cup qualifiers in September, had some good moments, but also struggled at times.
Wolfsburg midfielder Makoto Hasebe had two early attempts, but the first went straight at Czech keeper Petr Cech, while the second drifted wide.
The visitors defended resolutely and attacked with purpose, while there was confusion at times among the Japanese defenders.
In the 16th minute, Michal Bilek’s side came close again with Sivok’s header from a Kamil Vacek corner, but his effort went too high.
Japan started combining much better after 30 minutes and Cech had to be alert from a fine curling free-kick by Yaushito Endo in the 37th minute.
Tadanari Lee was then well-blocked in the box and the Sanfrecce Hiroshima player came close to connecting with an Endo through ball after penetrating the Czech defence.
After the break, Japan brought the 65,856 fans to their feet when Maya Yoshida had a good try with a header, but his attempt went over the bar.
At the other end, Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima had to make a couple of smart saves, but as the game wore on it was the home side that came closest.
In the 77th minute, Cech pulled off two superb saves – the first from a Shinji Okazaki header and the second to deny Lee’s followup.
Japan went on to attack hard but couldn’t produce a goal.
Czech coach Bilek commented: “Playing away at a full stadium, we knew it would be a hard game for us. But we actually had a better game than against Peru, so I’m content with our performance today.
“We played an even game against Japan, who are strong and have high quality, so I am happy about that.”
Bilek added: “I was wondering how we would play without some of our regular players such as Thomas Rosicky. But our youngsters worked hard today and we should be a good team by the autumn.”
Japan boss Alberto Zaccheroni commented: “We wanted to win the game and tried hard to do that. We created more chances than our opponents but we lacked precision, and we also have to praise the performance of the Czech goalkeeper.
“We had a short period of time to train with the new system, but our players did better than I thought they would.”