International Friendly Match:
Japan 1 - 0 Ukraine

Date: April 26, 2002 Location: Nagai Stadium, Osaka Japan 1 1 1H 0 0 2H 0 0 Ukraine Toda (24') Scoring Matsuda K. Nakata Cautions Zakarliula Seigo Narazaki, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Naoki Masuda, Koji Nakata, Kazuyuki Toda, Takashi Fukunishi (Tomokazu Myojin 61), Alessandro Santos (Shunsuke Nakamura 45), Hideaki Morishima (Mitsuo Ogasawara 56), Daisuke Ichikawa (Yasuhiro Hato 79), Akinori Nishizawa (Takayuki Suzuki 45), Atsushi Yanagisawa (Naohiro Takahara 61) Vitaliy Reva, Andriy Nesmachny (Sergiy Zadorozhny 46), Olexandr Holovko, Vladyslav Vashchuk, Sergiy Shyshchenko, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk (Olexandr Zotov 76), Hennadiy Zubov (Sergiy Serebrennikov 70), Sergiy Zakarlyuka (6- Olexandr Rykun 54), Andriy Vorobey (Olexandr Melashchenko 74), Andriy Husyn, Sergiy Popov (Olexandr Radchenko 46).

There was a certain degree of tension in the air as Japan took the field at Nagai Stadium, to face a visiting team from Ukraine. Certainly, the team was expected to record a strong performance against their under-strength opponent, but since this was Japan's first national team match since November, when they drew 1-1 with Italy, it was only to be expected that the team would be feeling a bit nervous. When this matchup was initially announced, fans in Japan were hoping to get a chance to see the lightning attacks of Shevchenko and Rebrov. Unfortunately, since Ukraine is not participating in this year's World Cup, European clubs were hesitant to release players, so though the team had plenty of young speedsters, they were drawn mainly from the Ukraine and Russian leagues.

Troussier used this occasion to evaluate the players who are on the borderline of making the team. Although several of the starters (particularly in the back line) will probably be on the field when Japan kicks off against Belgium on June 4, The midfielders that Troussier used on Tursday are all fighting just to get a spot in the final group of 23. Therefore, most of the 50,000 fans at Nagai, as well as everyone watching on TV, were closely watching the performance of players like Alessandro Santos, Daisuke Ichikawa, Shunsuke Nakamura and Mitsuo Ogasawara.

The match started off at a fairly brisk pace, with Japan pressuring the ball and looking for short passes to break down the defence while Ukraine opted to play to their height and speed advantage, lofting long passes to their forwards throughout the match. Though this tactic provided one or two good shot opportunities, the back three of Tsuneyoshi Miyamoto, Naoki Masuda and Koji Nakata did a good job of containing Ukraine's strikers, and keeper Seigo Narazaki really was only tested two or three times over the course of the match.

In his first start on the left wing, Alex looked fairly good, and had some creative runs early in the first half. However, it was clear that he has not been integrated into the team, yet. His communication with teammates was lacking at times, and he tended to hold the ball too long, and try to break down the defence on the dribble. Though he displayed a few flashy moves, this sort of dribbling work is the exact opposite of the sort of game played by fellow midfielder Hiroaki Morishima and forwards Atsushi Yanagisawa and Akinori Nishizawa prefer. By contrast, Ichikawa had fewer touches, but when he did get the ball, he provided some very good chances for the forwards.

Japan had one or two decent shots on goal, but the first truly dangerous shot didnt come until the 20 minute, when Morhishima flicked a ball into the box with the outside of his foot for Yanagisawa to run for. Yanagisawa cut back against the grain, beating both his defender and the keeper, but his shot was a bit too high. Nevertheless, by the 20 minute mark, Japan had settled down and was starting to dominate ball possession, as they would for the remainer of the match. In the 24 minute, Ichikawa won a free kick on the left side after using his speed to turn the corner on his defender. Ichikawa took the kick and dropped it back to his teammate, Alex, for a cross into the box. Nishizawa's header went astray, but Yanagisawa managed to latch onto the ball a meter or two to the right of the penalty spot. Screening off his defenders with his body, Yanagisawa showed a very professional degree of patience, as he waited for a teammate to break free. Finally, he spotted Kazuyuki Toda breaking towards the box, and he rolled a soft pass into his path. Toda met the ball in full stride and slammed it into the back of the net.

Ukraine tried to claw its way back in the ten minutes following the goal, but by the final ten minutes of the first half, Japan had re-established control of both posession and field position. Though there were only one or two real scoring opportunities, the team seemed to have acquired a great deal of confidence, moving the ball arlund carefully and loking for an opening. Ukraine, on the other hand, were pushed into a completely defensive mode, and only on occasional counterattacks did they really push out of their own defensive zone.

After the break, Nakamura replaced Alex, and Ogasawara came on for, who made the least impression on this match and, thus, has probably squandered his last chance to make the World Cup lineup. Nakamura provided a few exciting moments with through passes, but in general, he probably did not make a good case for inclusion in the WC2002 squad. His defending, in particular, showed signs of weakness. In fact, Ukraine's most dangerous shot of the match came on a play where Sergiy Scheschenko faked Nakamura out of his cleats, and drove to the edge of the box before pushing the ball just wide of the left upright. Ogasawara, on the other hand, made a very strong case for his inclusion in the team. Just three minutes after coming on, he sent a perfectly weighted through pass to Yanagisawa, which gave the Antlers striker a wide-open shot on the keeper. Though he made a fine cutback and beat the keeper, his shot was just milimeters wide of the right post. Twenty minutes into the second half, Ogasawara picked up a pass at midfield and, when no defender cut pff his progress, he accelerated towards the box. as the defence belatedly reacted, Oga cut back and left one Ukrainian player frozen in his tracks. The baby-faced assassin measured his victim and uncorked a blast, but his shot was a bit too close to the keeper, who made a diving save.

The final 15 to 20 minutes of the match were fairly dull, as both teams emptied their benches. The few opportunities that did arise were mainly created by Takayuki Suzuki's good work on the post play, and some nice cuts off the post by Naohiro Takahara. However, they all came to nothing, and the final score remained 1-0 to Japan.

Below is Japan's full roster for the match against Ukraine: