Earlier today in Johannesburg, Japan defeated Cameroon 1-0 boosting the team’s chances of advancing to the next round of the World Cup 2010.
Keisuke Honda scored the games only goal in the 39th minute. Cameroon had several chances to score, including a Stephane Mbia kick to the crossbar late in the game. With the victory, Japan earned its first win in a World Cup tournament outside of Japan. Takeshi Okada, Japan’s coach, seemed unimpressed with the way his team played.
I think we’ll need to be more aggressive in the future, though. This match is only our preparation for the second one and we still need to improve. I don’t think it was a great success – what’s important is the next game.
-- Quoted from FIFA.com, june 14, 2010
Steven Bloomfield, contributor for The Christian Science Monitor, wrote of the match, “The standard of many of the early games has not been great, but for 45 minutes this Group E encounter between Japan and Cameroon threatened to plumb new depths.”
Japan’s next opponent is the Netherlands, which defeated Denmark 2-0 today. The Netherlands, one of the best teams in the world, will put Japan to the test.
The game is next Saturday in Durban. Kick off is at 1:30 p.m. local time, 8:30 p.m. in Japan, and 4:30 a.m. Pacific in the United States.
Links+
FIFA.com
Japan - Cameroon - the matches of 2010 World Cup South Africa
June 14, 2010
This page contains quotes from the coaches of each team as well as from the players.
The Christian Science Monitor
Japan vs. Cameroon: Japan tames the Indomitable Lions, 1-0
By Steve Bloomfield
June 14, 2010
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