Hidetoshi Nakata the golden boy of Japan and Asian soccer has announced his retirement from the beautiful game at the age of 29.

Nakata who had a below par World Cup will be remembered for putting Japanese soccer on the World map.

He has been a great ambassador for the sport and I would like to take this opportunity to wish him well.

Japan played very well in the first half of today’s game and took a early lead with a fantastic goal but Brazil always looked dangerous all night and when they equalised on the struck of half time, I sensed the second half will be tough. And so it turned out.

But I think the Japanese players gave their all and especially goalkeeper Kawaguchi tonight made some fantastic saves.

But it wasn’t to be and I wish both Brazil and Australia the best for the rest of the tournament.

I like to take this opportunity to thank you all for coming by this blog and leaving your fab comments.

Have fun for the rest of the tournament.

The Aussies have three points and could qualify alongside Brazil if they win or draw against Croatia.

If Croatia win they could go through as well with 4 points.

So Japan need to win against Brazil and hope for the best.

In my opinion, Coach Zico’s team have underperformed in this World Cup and instead of blaming the organisers, he should look himself in the mirror and own up that he is responsible for his team’s poor showing.

Another missed opportunity by Japan to get three points on the board.

The highlights of the match were goalkeeper Kawaguchi saving a penalty in the 22nd minute and Atsushi Yanagisawa missing from about 3 yards in front of goal. Definitely the miss of the tournament in my opinion.

The result leaves Japan rooted to the foot of Group F. And to make matter worst, Japan have a key player in Captain Tsuneyasu Miyamoto suspended for the final game against Brazil so his presence in defence will surely be missed.

It is surely going to be tough against Brazil and unless Japan get three points they will be on the plane back to Japan.

As this is a must win game for the Blue Samurai, he will hope to add more offensive power by allowing the full backs to push forward to help the four midfielders.

This new formation might work but the Croatians are a hard team to beat as the Brazilians recognised.

Japan will need to defend better as a team and hopefully will get the result required against the Croatians.

Tim Cahill a super sub who I blogged about earlier was the hero of the day with two goals in the space of five minutes. You can read up on how the drama unfolded right here.

Japan have it all to do in this group as Australia was the easiest opposition. The team must now pick themselves up and be fired up against Croatia. And after that its Brazil.

The game seems fairly entertaining although I heard Japan scored a bizzare goal. I will look out for that when I see the highlights later.

The Socceroos have had most of the possession but the Blue Samurai have the goal which is all that matters at this stage.

Hope the second half is as interesting or even better.

To be honest, I don’t know much about the Socceroos but what I do know is some of their players play in the English Premiership and I do follow that passionately.

Two players that might cause the Japanese team a lot of problems are Mark Viduka who will lead the line and Tim Cahill who will probably just sit behind him. Cahill is definitely a dangerous player both on the ground and in the air.

He scores a lot of goals as well so he is definitely a threat in and around the box. Mark Viduka is very strong and skillfull player and always backs opposing defenders before he makes his move.

They also have wing backs in Brett Emerton and Scott Chipperfield who will seek to exploit holes on the flanks and get forward at any opportunity. Both their strikers will rely on the wing backs to provide the crosses for them.

I am not sure if Harry Kewell will start both he is another good player who is quick and can change a game in an instant. So whether he starts or comes of the bench he will be an handful for the Blue Samurai.

The only other player the Japanese will have to watch is dead ball specialist Marco Bresciano. He will seek shooting opportunities wherever possible and will be dangerous from set pieces as well.

I expect a very tight game but I feel the Japanese have the players to edge it.

Enjoy the game.