Japan 2 - 2 Belgium

Date: 4 June, 2002 Location: Saitama Stadium, Japan Japan 0 1H 0 2 2H 2 Belgium Suzuki (59') Inamoto (67') Scoring Wilmots (57') Van der Hyden (75') Toda Inamoto Cautions br> Van der Hyden Verheyen van Meir Seigo Narazaki, Naoki Matsuda, Ryuzo Morioka, (Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, 73), Koji Nakata, Junichi Inamoto, Kazuyuki Toda, Hidetoshi Nakata, Shinji Ono, (Alessandro Santos, 64), Daisuke Ichikawa (Hiroaki Morishima, 71), Takayuki Suzuki, Atsushi Yanagisawa Geert deWilieger, Eric van Meir, Peter van der Heyden , Jacky Peeters, Daniel vanBuyten, Timmy Simons, Bart Goor, Johan Walem (Wesley Sonck, 71), Gert Verheyen (Branko Strupar, 83), Yves Vanderhaeghe, Marc Wilmots

Japan got its World Cup campaign off to an exciting start, in a see-saw thriller that by all rights should have won them three points. But despite a very poor call by the referee which denied them a third goal, Japan can feel very happy about their first World Cup point, and a nice first step towards proceeding to the next round.

This was a match of two very disparate halves. The first 45 minutes was scoreless and even a bit dull, but the second stanza had everyone, from the screaming fans in Saitama Stadium to the cynical European announcers on the edge of their seats. Japan came out very tentative and showed a bad case of nerves for about the first 25 minutes. Even the most reliable players sent passes astray, or flubbed their attempt to trap the ball, and as a result, there were only one or two scoring chances in the first period. Belgium fared just as badly, though, as the one thing Japan did well was pressure the ball and deny the red devils an open shot.

Although some thought that Troussier might opt to play a lone forward against Belgium, the starting lineup was a very traditional 3-5-2, with the usual flat three of Koji Nakata, Ryuzo Morioka and Naoki Matsuda in the back, Junichi Inamoto and Kazuyuki Toda at the twin volante positions, Shinji Ono at right wing and Daisuke Ichikawa on the left, Hidetoshi Nakata at the point and the Antlers strike team of Takayuki Suzuki and Atsushi Yanagisawa up front. Ichikawa looked to be the most nervous player on the pitch, and had little impact on offense, though he did do a good job of covering the defensive flank. Ono was rather sluggish, and will have a hard time convincing anyone that he is not suffering from some physical ailment, be it appendicitis (as rumour has it) or something else. But everyone else had a stellar performance, even during the nervy stalemate of the first half. Belgium got the two most dangerous scoring chances of the first half, but Marc Wilmots' header from the edge of the area was handled smoothly by Narazaki and Bart Goor, who had an open chance when a deflected ball fell to him on the left of the box, rushed his shot and sent it well wide. Japan's best opportunity came on a nice long feed to Suzuki breaking into the box, but the Belgian defender was able to catch up, as Suzuki hesitated too long in deciding what to do with the ball, and the drive came to nothing. Yanagisawa also got a clear header on a cross from Ono into the box, but the ball was a bit too high for him to reach, and he could only bloop it weakly to the right of the post.

After a relatively stagnant first half, the second stanza was played at a furious pace. Japan came out pressing hard, and nearly got an opportunity right off the bat, but Hide Nakata failed to find Ichikawa breaking down the wing, opting instead for a long shot which was easily handled by the Belgian keeper, deWiliger. Then, in the 57 minute, Belgium got a big break. After a well-constructed drive by the midfield, Verheyen had his shot/cross blocked by Koji Nakata, and it looked like Japan were out of danger. But the clearance was too weak, and Marc Wilmots was able to screen his defender as the ball bounced, and then hit a bicycle kick that caught Narazaki too far off his line, and looped into the goal.

This temporarily quieted the roaring crowd, but it also seemed to bring Japan to life. Just two minutes later, Shinji Ono threaded a ball through the defence for Suzuki to run onto. It looked like the ball was a bit too long, but rather than chasing it down, the defender left it for his keeper to clean up. Suzuki refused to give up on the ball, racing past the defender and catching up with it just at the edge of the box, a half-step ahead of the keeper. Lunging for the high-bounding ball, Suzuki managed to get a toe to it, and poked it past deWiliger to put Japan level.

The equalizer sent the huge crowd in Saitama Stadium into richter-scale celebrations, and provided the team with a huge energy boost as well. The next ten minutes or so saw Japan swarming the ball, and driving towards the Belgian net on several occasions. After a foul on Nakata H. at the left side of the box, Ono took a perfectly-placed free kick that deWiliger was just barely able to flick over the bar. This would be one of Ono's last actions, though, since Troussier noded his fading stamina and brought in Alex Santos to push the pace a bit higher. The pressure on the ball was starting to take its toll on Belgium, who began to rush their passes and falter on defence. In the 68 minute, the defence finally cracked. Inamoto charged down a Belgian midfielder from behind, and stripped the ball for Yanagisawa to collect, just inside the Belgian end. Yanagisawa settled the ball, and as the defence tried to collapse onto him, he returned the ball to Inamoto, who was breaking towards goal. The Arsenal backbencher was already in full stride, and a slight ball fake allowed him to cut around the last Belgian defender and blaze into the box unmarked. With the keeper stranded on his line, Inamoto had only to pick his spot and drive the ball into the roof of the net.

Unfortunately, Belgium responded just as Japan had when they went a goal behind. The next few minutes were fast-paced for both teams, but Belgium were giving Japan no time to rest on their laurels. Morioka had been forced left the match just after Inamoto's goal, suffering from a bruised calf, and his replacement, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, was still not into the flow of the match when a pass from Wilmots to Peter vanderHeyden left him one-on-one at the edge of the box. A nice move by vanderHeyden left Miyamoto flat-footed, and he used the one step of space to fire a shot just past the fingers of Narazaki.

Then came the worst call of a truly horrible performance by the Costa Rican referee. The man in stripes had blown numerous calls over the course of the match, and although his mistakes went both ways, he seemed to deny Japan any benefit of the doubt on several key plays. In the 83 minute, after a rush into the box by Inamoto had been broken up by the defence, the platinum-haired midfielder chased back after the bounding ball. The Belgian defender didnt see him coming, and Inamoto was able to pull the ball out from onder his feet without making any contact. Turning towards goal, Inamoto made a spectacular move to step past the final defender and blasted the ball into the back of the net. . . .

But even as the stadium erupted with noise, the referee's hand went into the air, and he disallowed the winning goal. According to the match report, he felt that Inamoto had obstructed the first defender as he pulled the ball away, though replays show conclusively that there was no body contact at all. Despite the huge disappointment of losing what should have been the winning tally, Japan remained on the attack for the remainder of the match, and Belgium could do nothing but hold on for dear live. When the final whistle sounded, the crowd erupted once more. Despite a tug of disappointment for what might have been, the entire country celebrated our first point in World Cup action, as well as the magnificent performance of the Japan team.