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[Awards Review]
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▶ Inamoto Strikes Again as Japan Stun Russia 1-0
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[2002/06/09 ]
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Yokohama, June 9 (Kyodo-Yonhap) -- A second-half strike from Junichi Inamoto gave co-hosts Japan their first-ever win at the World Cup on Sunday as Philippe Troussier's side beat Russia 1-0 in group H to move a step closer to the last 16.
Arsenal midfielder Inamoto sent 66,108 fans wild at International Stadium Yokohama when he drove home the winner in the 51st minute for his second goal in as many games, putting Japan on top of the group with four points from two games played.
Japan lead Russia by a point and are three clear of Belgium, who play bottom-placed Tunisia on Monday. Japan need only a draw in their final game against Tunisia in Osaka on Friday to advance to the second round.
'It was a great game against strong opponents who were looking to win themselves. We deserved our victory and with four points in the bag we have a good chance to make the second round,' Troussier said after the win.
Russian assistant coach Mikhail Gershkovich was left to rue a number of missed chances by Russia but consoled himself with the fact that they still have a chance of progressing to the knockout stage with a victory over Belgium in their last game Friday in Shizuoka.
'Of course I'm not happy losing as we had chances. The only consolation for us is that the tournament is still going on and everything is in our own hands. If we beat Belgium we can still qualify,' Gershkovich said.
Japan started strongly with Inamoto trying his luck with a long-range effort after four minutes and was just inches away from connecting with a Shinji Ono free kick three minutes later.
The best chance of the first half though fell to Japan playmaker Hidetoshi Nakata, who blasted over following good work from Koji Nakata on the left, while Russian teenager Marat Izmailov went close after 15 minutes with a shot that shaved Seigo Narazaki's right-hand post.
Troussier made two changes to the side that drew 2-2 with Belgium in their opening match, with Tsuneyasu Miyamoto taking the captain's armband in place of injured Ryuzo Morioka while Tomokazu Myojin came in for Daisuke Ichikawa on the right side of midfield.
But without the leadership of Asian Cup captain Morioka, Japan looked nervous at the back and Narazaki had to be quick off his line to save at the feet of Ruslan Pimenov in the 32nd minute.
Five minutes after the interval Japan took the lead. Koji Nakata sent a pinpoint pass into Atsushi Yanagisawa, who laid the ball off for Inamoto to rifle past Russia keeper Ruslan Nigmatullin.
Coach Oleg Romantsev brought on strikers Dmitry Sychyov and Vladimir Beschastnykh in the 52nd minute and the latter should have put Russia level six minutes later.
Beschastnykh found himself clean through after a mistake from Miyamoto and rounded keeper Narazaki only to inexplicably drive the ball into the left side netting with the goal at his mercy.
Nakata almost made it 2-0 with a ferocious shot that cannoned off the crossbar on 71 minutes but Inamoto's strike proved to be enough to seal a historic win for Japan.
- Scorers:
Russia: None
Japan: Junichi Inamoto 51
- Halftime: 0-0
- Attendance: 66,108
- Teams:
Japan - 12-Seigo Narazaki, 3-Naoki Matsuda, 16-Koji Nakata, 17-Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, 5-Junichi Inamoto (15- Takashi Fukunishi 85), 7-Hidetoshi Nakata, 18-Shinji Ono (6-Toshihiro Hattori 75), 20-Tomokazu Myojin, 21-Kazuyuki Toda, 11-Takayuki Suzuki (10-Masashi Nakayama 72), 13-Atsushi Yanagisawa
Russia - 1-Ruslan Nigmatullin, 2-Yuri Kovtun, 3-Yuri Nikiforov, 7-Viktor Onopko, 4-Alexei Smertin (11-Vladimir Beschastnykh 57), 5-Andrei Solomatin, 6-Igor Semshov, 8-Valery Karpin, 9-Yegor Titov, 20-Marat Izmailov (21-Dmitry Khokhlov 52), 19-Ruslan Pimenov (22-Dmitri Sychev 46)
- Referee: Markus Merk (Germany) |
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