Japan leave it late to secure 2-2 draw with Bosnia-Herzegovina

Japan scored in the last minute to secure a 2-2 for Japan against Bosnia-Herzegovina in a World Cup warm-up match in Dortmund Germany.

Japan took the initiative earlier on in the first half and put their opponents under a lot of pressure. Bosnia’s only chance in the first half was in the third minute when Sergej Barbarez failed to head Vladan Misimovic’s cross into the net.

However, Japan took a deserved lead in the 45th minute when Shunsuke Nakamura’s corner kick was deflected in by Naohiro Takahara.

Bosnia came back strong and scored from the penalty spot in the 57th minute when striker Sergej Barbarez was adjudged to have been fouled. Vladan Misimovic slotted home from the penalty spot.

Bosnia took the lead 10 minutes later when Barbarez found Emir Spahic, who headed the ball into the net.

Golden boy wonder Nakata snatched a late goal in the dying minutes of the game to give Japan a share of the spoils.

The teams lined up as follows :-

Japan: Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Allesandro Santos, Yuji Nakazawa, Koji Nakata, Takashi Fukunishi (Shinji Ono,63), Hidetoshi Nakata, Shunsuke Nakamura, Junichi Inamoto, Tatsuhiko Kubo (Atsushi Yanagisawa 70), Naohiro Takahara (Masashi Oguro 82).

Bosnia-Herzegovina: Kenan Hasagic, Emir Spahic, Dzemal Berberovic, Vedin Music (Mirko Hrgovic 60), Sasa Papac, Vladan Grujic (Sergej Jakirovic 82), Zlatan Bajramovic (Velimir Vidic 87), Mirsad Beslija (Admir Vladavic 77), Sergej Barbarez (Admir Rascic 79), Zvjezdan Misimovic (Seniad Ibricic 68) , Mladen Bartolovic.