Japan fire blank against Scotland

Japan drew 0-0 with Scotland in the three-nation Kirin Cup match in Saitama on Saturday. As a result Scotland win their first trophy since 1985 having beat Bulgaria 5-1 on Thursday.

Japan would have needed to beat Scotland by three goals to deny the visitors the title and were unlucky not to be ahead by halftime in rain-soaked Saitama.

Right-back Akira Kaji was the first to test the Scottish defence when he cut inside on to his left foot and crashed a fierce long-range shot against the post in the 24th minute before Shinji Ono produced the game’s best moment.

Ono latched on to a clever flick from Keiji Tamada before skipping past two defenders and forcing a superb reflex save from Scotland goalkeeper Neil Alexander.

Also, Japan suffered a World Cup scare at the start of the second half when defender Yuji Nakazawa was taken off by stretcher after being elbowed in the face by Lee McCulloch.

Mitsuo Ogasawara came close in the 52nd minute and Alex’s injury-time free kick was well smothered by Alexander but Japan’s lack of a cutting edge in attack once again let them down.

Japan coach Zico lamented that there was a lot of pressure on his team to score the three goals that was required to win the cup but he drew positives from the game. He also felt that they created enough chances to win the game.

The Brazilian now has the interesting task of naming his 23-man World Cup squad on Monday and he hinted that irrespective of result, he already know his squad for the World Cup.

His 23-man squad leave Japan on May 26 and will play their final warm-up games against hosts Germany and Malta.