Japan claim first win of triangular series over Iceland

Iceland's Hermann Hreidarsson (L) is fended off by Japan's Masashi Motoyama. A controversial penalty from Brazilian wing-back Alessandro Santos and two first half goals from Tatsuhiko Kubo were enough to give Japan a 3-2 win in the opening match of the triangular tournament against Iceland at the City of Manchester Stadium.

A controversial penalty from Brazilian wing-back Alessandro Santos and two first half goals from Tatsuhiko Kubo were enough to give Japan a 3-2 win in the opening match of the triangular tournament against Iceland at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Santos scored the deciding goal in the 56th minute after Petur Marteinsson was judged to have brought down Takayuki Suzuki, a decision by English referee Mike Riley that looked harsh upon video replay.

Nonetheless, the victory was an important morale boost for a Japanese side, under Brazilian coach Zico, ahead of an important World Cup qualifier against India on June 9.

"I'm happy with the way the team played, especially because it has been a very long time since Japan has been able to come back from a deficit," said Zico, whose team is without injured star Hidetoshi Nakata.

"But I am a little bit worried that we did not score more goals, taking into account the number of chances we created, particularly in the second half. Unfortunately, we also conceded two goals from set pieces and that is because of a lack of communication between the players," added Zico.

In an open, entertaining game, the only negative for the Japanese came in the form of an horrendous two-footed lunge by Iceland's Brynjar Gunnarsson on Yasuhito Endo which earned the Nottingham Forest midfielder an automatic red card in the 82nd minute. Fortunately, Endo was unharmed despite the challenge.

Iceland, without a victory in five games, a sequence dating back to a win against the Faroe Islands in August last year, drew first blood with their opening attack leading to a fourth minute goal.

It stemmed from Thordur Gudjonsson's left-wing free-kick which found Japanese goalkeeper Seigo Narasaki lacking, his punch from the curling cross rebounding directly against the incoming Heidar Helguson and deflecting into the goal.

But Japan, with their playmaker Shinji Ono of Dutch club Feyenoord quickly establishing himself as the game's most influential performer, soon responded.

Kubo's snap shot passed inches wide and Keiji Tamada surged through and produced a strong shot from the edge of the area which Arni Arason parried behind before Kubo equalised in the 21st minute following a flowing three-man move.

Ono played the final telling pass, with the aid of a deflection from Marteinsson, which allowed Kubo to score with an excellent lifted left-foot shot from eight yards.

Tamada's shot was soon saved by the legs of Arason and Shumsuke Nakamura curled a free-kick over the bar before Kubo found the net with his second goal after 35 minutes.

Ono was again its architect, playing a long pass with the outside of his boot, while Kubo showed persistence and presence to force his way into the area and beat Arason with another expert finish, from just inside the area.

There were opportunities for both teams before the interval - volleys from Junichi Inamoto and Iceland's Helguson which just failed to find their intended targets - although it took only four minutes of the second half for Iceland to draw level.

A left-wing corner from Arnar Gretarsson produced the goal as Helguson rose well to steer a strong downward header into the Japanese net for his second goal of the day.

As the inevitable string of substitutions effected the game's continuity, there was no shortage of openings for both teams with defensive organisation seriously effected.

Arason dealt unconvincingly with Atsushi Yanagisawa's cross with Mitsuo Ogasawara's follow-up shot blocked although the miss did not prove a costly one with Santos scoring a third Japanese goal from the penalty spot shortly afterwards.

"I'm not sure about the decision, it seemed a bit harsh," complained Iceland coach Sigurvinsson. "But we knew it would be a hard game. Japan have some good players and a lot of speed, we knew what they were capable of. But I don't think we deserved to lose today."

Japan play their next match against England on Tuesday.