Thursday, August 10, 2006

by Hiroshi Hiyama

TOKYO, Japan (AFP): Japan won their first game under new coach Ivica Osim on Wednesday, with Brazilian-born Alessandro Santos scoring twice early to sink Trinidad and Tobago 2-0 in a friendly here.

Japan won a free kick outside of the penalty area on 17 minutes, and Santos opened his account with a left-footer that curled into the Trinidad goal.

He found the net again five minutes later, gently touching a Yuichi Komano pass for a fabulous looping shot that flew over goalkeeper Jan Michael Williams, thrilling the crowd at National Stadium.

The young home side looked comfortable against the visitors, employing solid defence and sending sharp passes to their wingers and strikers Kazuki Ganaha and Tatsuya Tanaka.

Five of Japan's starters were making their national team debut, with six more fresh faces on the bench.

Osim did not call home Europe-based stars for the match, which served as a warm-up for Japan's home Asian Cup qualifier against Yemen next week.

Despite sudden heavy rain that swept the pitch in the second half, Japan kept up their offensive and threatened again on 77 minutes, with striker Hisato Sato narrowly misfiring on a Santos rebound.

Osim expressed satisfaction with his new team but said the Japanese players had to run more aggressively.

"Generaly speaking, it was good as the first match," the former Yugoslavia coach told reporters.

"By running more, Japan should be able to compete better with physically larger players from foreign countries."

The Caribbean side, who became the smallest nation ever to feature at a World Cup finals in Germany, struggled to find their rhythm or break down the Japanese defence.

The visitors failed to benefit from several dead ball opportunities, including or even the 20th minute miscue by Japanese goalkeeper Yoshikatu Kawaguchi.

Trinidad striker Gary Glasgow repeatedly broke down the right flank but seldom succeeded in providing penetrative crosses.

Trinidad coach Wilhelmus Rijsbergen said: "The game was a good experience for my players, who will be able to bring that back to their domestic league."

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