Japan struggles through heat for 2-1 away victory against Singapore

Japan import Alessandro Santos attempts a long shot during a match with Singapore in the Asian Pre-World Cup 2006 qualifying round in Singapore.

Asian champions Japan struggled through hot and humid conditions to secure a 2-1 away victory against Singapore in their World Cup qualifier here.

The win extended Japan's lead at the top of the Asian zone's group 3 but the team looked a shadow of the unit that performed so memorably to reach the second round as co-hosts of the 2002 World Cup.

Japan wasted chance after chance in the first half until forward Naohiro Takahara finally broke the run of misses in the 34th minute when his deflected drive from outside the box beat Singapore keeper Hassan Sunny.

The wasted opportunities looked set to come back and haunt the visitors as they began to wilt in the 29-degree-celsius (80-degree-farenheit) heat and feisty Singaporean striker Indra Sahdan Daud scored in the 63rd minute.

With Singapore on the rebound, Indra's strike amid heavy traffic at the top of the box beat keeper Seigo Narazaki at the near post.

But after more missed chances, Japan's coach Zico's decision to bring on fresh legs for the final stages of the game paid dividends with substitute Toshiya Fujita scoring in the 81st minute.

Fujita, who plays with Jubilo Iwata in the J-League, pounced on the loose ball in front of the goal face after Hassan was unable to clear a cross.

Japan have now won their first two matches of the first round of qualifying but the unconvincing nature of both victories -- Japan snuck through with a 1-0 win against Oman last month -- will ensure Zico's position as coach remains under pressure.

Singapore, meanwhile, has already all but lost hope of reaching the second round of qualifying with the loss against Japan following a 1-0 defeat at the hands of India last month.