Japan National Team: 2000 Asian Cup
Japan 1 - 1 Qatar

Date: Oct 20, 2000 Location: Beirut, Lebanon Japan 0 1H 1 1 2H 0 1 Qatar Nishizawa (61') Scoring Al-Obeid (22') -- Cautions -- Daijiro Takakuwa, Ryuzo Morioka, Yuji Nakazawa, Keiji Kaimoto, Shigeyoshi Mochizuki (Toshihiro Hattori 79), Atsuhiro Miura, Daisuke Oku, Shinji Ono, Hiroshi Nanami, Tatsuhiko Kubo (Akinori Nishizawa 45'), Hideaki Kitajima (Tomokazu Myojin 45'). TBA

With the first place spot in their pool already wrapped up, Phillippe Troussier sent out a full second-string squad for their third pool round match against Qatar. The result was rather disappointing -- in particular, the lack of goal creation from Tatsuhiko Kubo and Hideaki Kitajima would ensure that both players were soon dropped from Troussier's consideration.

After conceding a 0-1 halftime deficit, Troussier took both players off at the break, and brought on Akinori Nishizawa and TOmokazu Myojin -- both players who would become Troussier favourites. This restored enough of Japan's attacking prowess to generate the equaliser, on the stroke of the hour. However, with no real pressure to get a win, Japan coasted through the second half and began preparing for the challenge of the knockout round.