Japan 1 Costa Rica 1

World Cup co-hosts Japan drew 1-1 with Costa Rica in a friendly staged at the Yokohama venue which will stage June's final.

The first half was lost in midfield scrapping but the game improved considerably after the break with the South Americans carving out the first notable chance when defender Harold Wallace won a penalty which striker Ronald Gomez crashed against Japanese goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki who dived and saved.

Such a let-off allowed the hosts to get back into the game.

Winger Alessandro Santos sent in good crosses throughout the half which the forwards failed to finish with Takayuki Suzuki heading over twice in the space of a minute in the 54th minute.

Japan took the 70th lead with a fluke when Takahiro Myojin was set up for a cross but drifted the ball into the net instead.

Six minutes later substitute Winston Parks levelled when he converted a low cross.

Japan are now into final training ahead of the May finals and play Honduras, Slovakia, Madrid, Norway and Sweden in the next five weeks.

Costa Rica play World Cup co-hosts South Korea at the weekend and Colombia in San Jose on May 9th but have yet to schedule matches for later in May.