National Team Match:
Japan 1 - 2 France

Date: 8 June, 2003 Location: St. Etienne Stadium, France Japan 1 0 1H 1 1 2H 1 2 France Nakamura (59') Scoring Pires (43') Govou (65') Okubo Inamoto Cautions Thuram Sent Off Sagnol Seigo Narazaki, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, Keisuke Tsuboi, Nobuhisa Yamada, Alessandro Santos, Juniichi Inamoto (Koji Nakata, 73), Yasuhito Endo, Shunsuke Nakamura (Mitsuo Ogasawara, 80), Hidetoshi Nakata, Naohiro Takahara, Yoshito Okubo Fabien Barthez, Jean-Alain Boumsong, William Gallas, Mikael Silvestre, Willy Sagnol, Olivier Dacourt (Benoit Pedretti, 57), Robert Pires, Jerome Rothen (Sylvain Wiltord, 66), Ousmane Dabo, Steve Marlet (Thierry Henry, 80), Sidney Govou.

Japan put on a strong performance against the hosts and defending champions, France, at the Confederations' Cup on Friday, but two key errors attributable mainly to inexperience proved to be their downfall. France, meanwhile, had the referee to thank for the second match in a row, as a blatant dive in the penalty area by Boomsong was rewarded with a PK that proved to be the deciding goal in this narrow victory.

Japan played Les Bleus very even throughout the first half, with both teams pressuring the ball well and both settling for just a few half-chances. Indeed, Japan held a 55% to 45% lead in ball possession, leading the fans at the Stade de France to rebuke their team with whistles and catcalls. But just when it seemed like the two teams would enter the locker room with the score line unbroken, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto flubbed an outlet pass to Alex Santos on the left wing, giving Govou a free chance to drive towards goal. Miyamoto managed to clear the ball over the end line before any worse damage could result, but on the subsequent free kick, Boomsong felt a light tap on his shoulder from Junichi Inamoto and collapsed like a dynamited house of cards. The referee swallowed the acting job, awarding a PK and giving Inamoto a yellow, despite the fact that replays showed only minimal contact. Robert Pires collected the PK and Japan went ibn at half time trailing 1-0.

In the second half, however, Japan came out with a great deal of determination, and began creating a number of scoring opportunuties. In the 59 minute, Naohiro Takahara was hauled down about 30 meters from goal, level with the left edge of the penalty arc. Shunsuke Nakamura lined up the kick and placed a perfect drive into the top right corner which eluded the dive of Fabien Bathez and brought Japan level once more.

But another crusial blunder cost them the lead only six minutes later. Alex Santos, who played well in the set-up phase of attack at deep midfield, but was a weak link on defence throughout the match, inexplicably let Sidney Govou race in from the right wing, completely unmarked. France are a team that punishes such blunders, and sure enough, Mikael Silvestre spotted the wide-open striker and placed a through pass right onto the penalty spot. Narazaki raced off his line but Govou was a half-step faster, and slid the ball just past his diving body to give France the lead once more.

But Japan were far from finished. Five minutes after the Govou goal, Takahara was once again pulled down from behind, this time even closer to goal. As Bathez awaited the left-footed curl from Nakamura, Yasuhito Endo stepped up and slammed a right-footer into the crossbar, which would have bounded into the net if it were just a centimeters lower. Nor was that the last of the opportunities. Shunsuke Nakamura nearly doubled his scoring statistics for the match with a blast from the top of the arc, and both Takahara and Okubo put low balls into the corner that Bathez had to punch away desperately.

By this point, the French were clearly on the back foot, resorting to time-wasting tactics and fouls to keep Japan at bay. WIth a minute left in regulation time, Willy Sagnol (who was responsible for the previous foul on Takahara) hacked down Hidetoshi Nakata from behind, earning an immediate red card. But as Japan gathered itself for one last push, the referee suddenly blew the whisle. With only two minutes played of the three of extra time that had been promised, it took the announcers at least ten seconds to realise that he had ended the match. One more gift to the home team from an officiating corps that are quickly endearing themselves to French fans.

All in all, Japan may have deserved a draw but may be just as well off to have lost. The way that both French goals came -- on foolish blunders by the defence -- should teach them to take nothing for granted and maintain their concentration for the full 90 minutes. Hopefully, the result also demonstrated to Zico that Santos and Miyamoto, while providing plusses to the offence, are still a liability on defence. If Zico had brought in either Toshihiro Hattori or Koji Nakata as a defensive substitution immediately after Nakamura's goal, it seems very unlikely that they would have given Govou such an easy run at goal. Furthermore, since they are now level on points with Colombia, Japan need to play for a win in their final match. Given the team's past experiences in such situations, if they had the option of advancing with a draw, they might just play the sort of match that Colombia could exploit to take the victory. In any event, the final match of the pool round is shaping up to be a real thriller.

Below is the full roster for the match against France: