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Japan makes history Inamoto goal downs Russia, earns country's first Cup winPosted: Sunday June 09, 2002 7:34 AMUpdated: Sunday June 09, 2002 10:10 AM
YOKOHAMA, Japan (Reuters) -- Junichi Inamoto was the hero of Japan on Sunday, scoring the winner as the co-hosts beat Russia 1-0 after a storming second half to record their first ever victory in a World Cup finals. The midfielder, who scored in Japan's opening 2-2 draw with Belgium last Tuesday, fired high into the net from close range after 51 minutes to send the 66,000 crowd at Yokohama's huge International Stadium into raptures. The deserved victory -- midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata also hit the bar with a piledriver -- lifted Philippe Troussier's side to the top of group H and kept them on course to reach the second round for the first time. Troussier thought his side deserved their victory and said he was now confident of progressing in the tournament.
"It was an extraordinary match against a very good team who came to win," he said. "We saw a great Japanese team and as far as the match was concerned, our victory was fully merited. "With four points, we should logically qualify." Japan have four points from two games, one more than Russia, who were a major disappointment in Sunday's game, which warmed up after a tepid first half. Belgium, who play Tunisia on Monday, have one point, with the north Africans on none. In their first appearance in the finals in 1998 in France Japan lost all three group games and went home after the first round, having scored just one goal. Hidetoshi Nakata should have put Troussier's side, who were without captain Ryuzo Morioka through injury, in front after 27 minutes but fired wastefully over the bar when the ball fell to him 12 meters out. Russia offered little, although 19-year-old Marat Izmailov looked lively and almost scored after 15 minutes when he curled a delightful 20-metre effort just wide of Seigo Narazaki's far post.
Beschastnykh miss Romantsev, who did not risk his unfit playmaker Alexander Mostovoi, brought on lively 18-year-old Dmitry Sychev at the start of the second half, making the combined age of his strikers just 37 years. But it was Japan who struck the only goal. Koji Nakata played a diagonal ball into the penalty area that Atsushi Yanagisawa diverted into Inamoto's path and the midfielder took one touch before slamming the ball into the net past Ruslan Nigmatullin. Romantsev introduced his most experienced striker, Vladimir Beschastnykh, but the out-of-form Russian immediately contrived a shocking miss, hitting the side-netting when he should have scored after rounding the goalkeeper. Japan deserved to hang on for their win, though, and Hidetoshi Nakata almost made it 2-0 after 71 minutes, rattling the bar with a ferocious 25-metre drive.
Injured Japan captain Morioka out of lineupJapan's injured captain Ryuzo Morioka was left out of their starting team for the group H clash with Russia in on Sunday, while Russian playmaker Alexei Mostovoi also failed a late fitness test. Morioka suffered a nasty bruise on his left foot in the 2-2 draw with Belgium on Tuesday and was replaced in the cohosts' defence by Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, who takes over as captain and plays despite breaking his nose in training last week. Mostovoi failed to recover from a hamstring injury that kept him out of the 2-0 midweek win over Tunisia, so 19-year-old Marat Izmailov keeps his place in the side for group leaders Russia. Japan coach Philippe Troussier also brought in Tomokazu Myojin to play on the right instead of Daisuke Ichikawa, his only other change. Alexei Smertin returns to strengthen Russia's midfield, while striker Ruslan Pimenov was included despite a slight thigh strain. Teams: Japan (3-5-2): 12-Seigo Narazaki; 3-Naoki Matsuda, 17-Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, 16-Koji Nakata; 20-Tomokazu Myojin, 5-Junichi Inamoto, 21-Kazuyuki Toda, 7-Hidetoshi Nakata, 18-Shinji Ono; 11-Takayuki Suzuki, 13-Atsushi Yanagisawa Russia (3-5-2): 1-Ruslan Nigmatullin; 2-Yuri Kovtun, 3-Yuri Nikiforov, 7-Viktor Onopko; 5-Andrei Solomatin, 8-Valery Karpin, 9-Yegor Titov, 4-Alexei Smertin, 6-Igor Semshov; 20-Marat Izmailov, 19-Ruslan Pimenov Match referee: Markus Merk (Germany) Linesmen: Heiner Muller (Germany), Evzen Amler (Czech Republic)
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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