Football Japan Minutecast

The Japanese national team suffered the ignominy of being booed by their own supporters after opening their East Asian Championship campaign with a 0-0 draw against China in Tokyo. The result came off the back of a similar goalless stalemate in a friendly with Venezuela in Oita last Tuesday.

Having given a much heralded start to Mitsuo Ogasawara against Venezuela, Takeshi Okada opted to replace the Kashima Antlers midfielder on Saturday with the returning Keiji Tamada, who had missed out through injury four days earlier. The Nagoya Grampus striker and Kengo Nakamura of Kawasaki Frontale were both guilty of firing off target with Japan�fs best two opportunities in a scrappy first half, which saw Chinese defender Rong Hao hit the side netting from distance as the visitors grew in confidence.

Japan picked up the tempo after the half time interval and were unlucky not to go in front when Atsuto Uchida�fs shot bounced off the inside of the post into the grateful arms of goalkeeper Yang Zhi, but the home side struggled to create many clear cut chances thereafter despite continuing to control much of the possession. Indeed, it was China who came closest to breaking the deadlock when Yuto Nagatomo was penalised for handling in the area ten minutes from time, but Seigo Narazaki kept out Yang Hao�fs weak spot kick to at least ensure that the game finished even.

Despite the chorus of boos that echoed around a half-full Ajinomoto Stadium at the final whistle, Okada was quick to take encouragement from the domination that his team had enjoyed, and suggested that greater penetration in the final third would come with more match practice.

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In the weekend�fs other match, reigning champions South Korea got their title defence off to a fine start with a 5-0 victory over tournament underdogs Hong Kong. Goals from Kim Jung-Woo, Gu Ja-Cheol, Lee Dong-Gook, and Lee Seung-Ryul gave the Koreans a 4-0 advantage inside just 37 minutes, before No Byung-Jun added a fifth in second half stoppage time. Japan will now look for a similar performance against Hong Kong on Thursday, before taking on South Korea in the competition�fs final game on Sunday.


East Asian Championship 2010 results
Japan 0-0 China
South Korea 5-0 Hong Kong

Friendly match result
Japan 0-0 Venezuela