14th June, 2010
BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (AFP) – SO, JAPAN HAVE RECORDED THEIR first ever World Cup win outside their own country thanks to Daisuke Honda’s first-half goal against Cameroon in Bloemfontein.
It’s also their first victory of any description since beating Bahrain 2-0 in the Asian Cup in March.
The three points puts them second in Group E on goal difference behind the Netherlands, who earlier beat Denmark 2-0 in Johannesburg.
Cameroon, seen by many before this game as a strong bet to qualify from the group, now have their work cut out to make it into the last 16.
Surely Paul Le Guen will surely now have to rethink his strategy of playing star striker Samuel Eto’o of Inter Milan on the right wing rather than up front.
The west Africans don’t have long to sort out their problems with their next game against Denmark in Pretoria on June 19, while Japan will take on the Dutch in Durban the same day hugely boosted by this opening result.
In truth, Japan showed little threat up front throughout the game and had just three attempts on goal, but they won’t mind after upsetting the odds to hold on for a 1-0 win.
Read on for a blow-by-blow account from the Samurai Blues’ victory over the Indomitable Lions.
BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (AFP) – 90+4 mins: FULL-TIME – Japan 1 Cameroon 0
90+3 mins: Desperate effort there from Samuel Eto’o as his athletic flick flies low towards the far post but is saved by Eiji Kawashima. Whistle had gone for offside anyway.
90+1 mins: YELLOW CARD! Japan’s Yuki Abe booked for throwing the ball away.
BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (AFP) – 90+4 mins: FULL-TIME – Japan 1 Cameroon 0
90+3 mins: Desperate effort there from Samuel Eto’o as his athletic flick flies low towards the far post but is saved by Eiji Kawashima. Whistle had gone for offside anyway.
90+1 mins: YELLOW CARD! Japan’s Yuki Abe booked for throwing the ball away.
88 mins: Japan’s Junichi Inamoto comes off the bench to replace Makoto Hasebe. Japan trying to run the clock down.
85 mins: So close to a leveller for Cameroon! Stephane Mbia lines one up twenty-five yards out an unleashes a rocket which crashes against the crossbar. and bounces clear. Inches away from an equaliser.
82 mins: Makoto Hasebe hits a powerful shot across the goal from the right which Cameroon ‘keeper Hamidou Souleymanou can only can punch out to Shinji Okazaki, who hits the post from the rebound… but the flag is up.
81 mins: Japan’s Kisho Yano on for Yoshito Okubo.
78 mins: Mohammadou Idrissou immediately gets a chance to break through down the righthand channel but a poor touch lets him down.
75 mins: Cameroon going for broke now — Geremi on for Jean Makoun and Mohammadou Idrissou replaces Eric Choupa Moting. They’ve got three up front now.
71 mins: YELLOW CARD! Cameroon’s Nicolas Nkoulou booked for clipping Shinji Okazaki.
The introduction of Achille Emana has really ignited the Cameroon side. His direct running is causing them all sorts of problems.
68 mins: Japan substitution – striker Shinji Okazaki on for Daisuke Matsui.
66 mins: Cameroon’s talismanic striker Samuel Eto’o is causing more trouble down the right flank here. But the clock is starting to tick for Paul Le Guen’s men.
63 mins: Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima clatters his defender Marcus Tulio Takana with as he punches clear from a corner.
During the stoppage Cameroon make a change with attacking midfielder Achille Emana brought on for the more defensive Joel Matip.
60 mins: Tottenham’s Benoit Assou-Ekotto twists and turns on the left flank but is dispossessed by a Japanese defender. The Samurai Blue are working really hard now to close down their opponents’ space.
57 mins: Cameroon’s Eric Choupo Moting cuts in from the left and fires in another low shot but it flies low past Eiji Kawashima’s righthand post.
53 mins: Pierre Webo sees an effort fly off target. Cameroon are upping the pressure here.
49 mins: What a chance for Cameroon! Samuel Eto’o escapes the atttentions of three Japanese defenders near the righthand corner flag, bears down on goal before pulling it back for Eric Choupo Moting, who curls the ball past the far post. He really should have hit the target.
1502 GMT: And the second half kicks off at the Free State stadium.
1450 GMT: “It’s not been entertaining,” says Manchester City’s Togolese striker and now BBC Sport pundit Emmanuel Adebayor.
“I think Japan have just been sitting back and playing on the counter-attack.
“Samuel Eto’o has hardly touched the ball. He’s our main man here in Africa and needs to be up front banging in goals.”
45+2 mins: HALF-TIME – Japan 1 Cameroon 0
45 mins: There will be a minimum of two minutes of added time played.
43 mins: That goal has really livened things up in Bloemfontein. Cameroon go straight down the other end and almost fashion a chance of their own.
39 mins: GOAL! Japan 1 Cameroon 0
Unbelievable! Keisuke Honda is picked out at the far post by Daisuke Matsui on the righthand touchline despite the presence of several Cameroon defenders. He takes a touch before coolly placing a left-footed shot past Hamidou Souleymanou in Cameroon’s goal. Where on earth did that come from?
35 mins: My AFP colleague Coumba Sylla has contacted me from Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé.
He tells me thousands of people there left their work earlier than usual to be able to watch the game and that a few minutes before kick-off, the streets were practically empty.
Now, can the Indomitable Lions do something to repay their compatriots’ faith in the team?
31 mins: Bit a muddle at the back for Japan here as goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima drops a high ball into the box after landing awkwardly. Ouch. Looks like he’s ok though.
27 mins: Pierre Webo is the most active of the Cameroon strikers so far, with Samuel Eto’o almost playing as a winger on the right.
23 mins: Oh dear — a Mexican wave has broken out in the stands — never a sign of a captivated audience…
The Samurai Blue are trying to get some passing going in their own half but little sign of penetration into Cameroon territory so far.
19 mins: Japan are getting all 11 men behind the ball here — not much of a surprise that they have scored just one goal in their last four games, which came against England in their 2-1 warm-up defeat in Graz, Austria, on May 30.
16 mins: My AFP colleague John Weaver tells me from pitchside that there are thousands of empty white seats in the Free State stadium — FIFA can’t be happy with that.
14 mins: Cameroon have gone out in the first round of all five World Cup finals they have competed in, apart from their famous run to the quarter-finals in Italy in 1990.
With a solid Danish team and the dangerous Dutch still to come for them in their group, Cameroon may feel they have to win this game to have a chance of emulating that much-celebrated, Roger Milla-inspired side of two decades ago.
8 mins: Pierre Webo almost creates the first chance of the game for Cameroon, breaking free on the right and pulling the ball back only for the Japanese defence to intervene.
6 mins: Quite a low-tempo start to this game in Bloemfontein, the capital of Free State Province, a largely rural region in central South Africa.
With a solid Danish team and the dangerous Dutch still to come for them in their group, Cameroon may feel they have to win this game to have a chance of emulating that much-celebrated, Roger Milla-inspired side of two decades ago.
1450 GMT: “It’s not been entertaining,” says Manchester City’s Togolese striker and now BBC Sport pundit Emmanuel Adebayor.
“I think Japan have just been sitting back and playing on the counter-attack.
“Samuel Eto’o has hardly touched the ball. He’s our main man here in Africa and needs to be up front banging in goals.”
45+2 mins: HALF-TIME – Japan 1 Cameroon 0
45 mins: There will be a minimum of two minutes of added time played.
43 mins: That goal has really livened things up in Bloemfontein. Cameroon go straight down the other end and almost fashion a chance of their own.
39 mins: GOAL! Japan 1 Cameroon 0
Unbelievable! Keisuke Honda is picked out at the far post by Daisuke Matsui on the righthand touchline. He takes a touch before placing a left-footed shot past Hamidou Souleymanou in Cameroon’s goal. Where on earth did that come from?
35 mins: My AFP colleague Coumba Sylla has contacted me from Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé.
He tells me thousands of people there left their work earlier than usual to be able to watch the game and that a few minutes before kick-off, the streets were practically empty.
Now, can the Indomitable Lions do something to repay their fellow Cameroonians faith in the team?
31 mins: Bit a muddle at the back for Japan here as goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima drops a high ball into the box after landing awkwardly. Ouch. Looks like he’s ok though.
27 mins: Pierre Webo is the most active of the Cameroon strikers so far, with Samuel Eto’o almost playing as a winger on the right.
23 mins: Oh dear — a Mexican wave has broken out in the stands — never a sign of a captivated audience…
The Samurai Blue are trying to get some passing going in their own half but little sign of penetration into Cameroon territory so far.
19 mins: Japan are getting all 11 men behind the ball here — not much of a surprise that they have scored just one goal in their last four games, which came against England in their 2-1 warm-up defeat in Graz, Austria, on May 30.
14 mins: Cameroon have gone out in the first round of all five World Cup finals they have competed in, apart from their famous run to the quarter-finals in Italy in 1990.
With a solid Danish team and the dangerous Dutch still to come for them in their group, Cameroon may feel they have to win this game to have a chance of emulating that much-celebrated, Roger Milla-inspired side of two decades ago.
8 mins: Pierre Webo almost creates the first chance of the game for Cameroon, breaking free on the right and pulling the ball back only for the Japanese defence to intervene.
6 mins: Quite a low-tempo start to this game in Bloemfontein, the capital of Free State Province, a largely rural region in central South Africa.
1400 GMT: THE TWO CAPTAINS shake hands in the centre-circle, the players take their positions and the whistle is blown — we’re off!
1358 GMT: Now it’s Cameroon’s turn as their rather more uplifting effort blares out — as it ends it is drowned out by the now familiar wall of sound from the ubiquitous vuvuzela horns in the stands.
On paper, Cameroon probably have the edge for this game, with plenty of World Cup experience behind them, including the veteran centre-back Rigobert Song, once of Liverpool but now of Tranzonspor in Turkey, who has notched up 133 caps for his country.
1355 GMT: The rather solemn Japanese national anthem is being played in Bloemfontein.
1350 GMT: Looks like Japan are taking a pretty conservative approach to their opening game, with Yoshito Okubo the lone striker supported by midfielder Keisuke Honda of CSKA Moscow fame.
Arsenal’s Alexandre Song has been left on the Cameroon bench by Paul Le Guen. Dangerous Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto’o — who has 92 caps for his country — will lead the line for the Indomitable Lions.
1343 GMT: The full starting line-ups are out:
Japan: Eiji Kawashima – Yuichi Komano, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Yuto Nagatomo, Yuji Nakazawa – Yuki Abe, Yasuhito Endo, Daisuke Matsui, Makoto Hasebe (capt), Keisuke Honda – Yoshito Okubo
Coach: Takeshi Okada
Cameroon: Hamidou Souleymanou – Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Nicolas Nkoulou, Sebastien Bassong, Stephane Mbia – Jean Makoun, Eyong Enoh, Joel Matip – Samuel Eto’o, Eric Choupo Moting, Pierre Webo
Coach: Paul Le Guen
Referee: Olegario Benquerenca (POR)
1338 GMT: My AFP colleague Frank Zeller writes to me from Tokyo. He tells me former Japan coach Philippe Troussier — a Frenchman who led Japan to the last 16 in the 2002 World Cup on home soil — has told the Sports Nippon daily that Japan can exploit mistakes by Cameroon’s defenders, who tend to over-commit players during their attacks on the opposition goal, leaving themselves vulnerable to counter attacks.
WELCOME TO THE FREE STATE STADIUM IN BLOEMFONTEIN for our live World Cup text commentary of Japan versus Cameroon.
It’s the second game of the day in Group E after the Netherlands earlier beat Denmark 2-0 in Johannesburg thanks to a Simon Poulsen own goal and a late strike from Liverpool’s Dirk Kuyt.
Japan’s manager Takeshi Okada has experimented with different starting line-ups in recent games, with CSKA Moscow midfielder Keisuke Honda used as a lone striker in a hastily arranged training-ground friendly with Zimbabwe which ended 0-0.
Midfielder Makoto Hasebe has overcome a back injury and looks set to start.
Japan’s preparations for the tournament have not gone well. They lost their last four matches before the Zimbabwe clash and goals are a major concern for the Samurai Blue.
The last time they managed to score was against England in a friendly in Graz, Austria, two weeks ago when Brazil-born defender Marcus Tulio Tanaka hit the net early on.
Cameroon became the first African nation to reach the last eight at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, inspired by a 38-year-old Roger Milla, before eventually falling to England.
Indomitable Lions coach Paul Le Guen says he has 23 players fit and available but has hinted that Arsenal midfielder Alexandre Song might not make the starting line-up.
In another surprise, 36-year-old Hamidou Souleymanou will replace regular Idriss Kameni in goal.
Kick-off is just half and hour away at 1400 GMT so stay with us for all the action as it happens.