Sunday Jun 18 2006 16:38
Japan and Croatia are both staring an early exit from the World Cup in the face after sharing a goalless draw in Nuremberg.
Zico's Japan face the daunting prospect of having to beat holders Brazil to have any chance of progressing in to the last 16, while Croatia need to defeat Australia in their final Group F game to stand a chance of going through.
Croatia should have emerged from this encounter with full points, but Dario Srna saw a first-half penalty saved by Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi and his team-mates proceeded to squander a succession of chances after the break.
The Blue Samurai put together plenty of neat build-up play but struggled to create clear-cut scoring opportunities.
However, they did miss the best chance of the game when Atsushi Yanagisawa mystifyingly pulled his shot wide of the target when presented with the ball six yards out in front of an open goal.
Japan had the better of the opening exchanges but failed to trouble Stipe Pletikosa in the Croatia goal.
The European side looked certain to take advantage of their opponents' lack of a cutting edge when Dado Prso went to ground in the area under pressure from Tsuneyasu Miyamoto after 21 minutes
The referee pointed to the spot and Srna drove the penalty kick low towards the bottom corner, only for the erratic Kawaguchi to produce a stunning save.
Despite the setback Croatia grew in confidence and were inches away from taking the lead when Niko Kranjcar hit a powerful shot on the turn from 20 yards that beat the goalkeeper but crashed to safety off the crossbar.
Kawaguchi made another fine save shortly before the interval to push away Ivan Klasnic's low shot.
Japan started the second half strongly, but could not find a telling final pass until Akira Kaji picked out Yanagisawa in space on the edge of the six-yard box. His subsequent miss was comical to neutral observers, but it may well have cost his team a place in the last 16.
Almost immediately Kranjcar squandered a good chance at the other end, guiding Klasnic's cross the wrong side of the post at full stretch.
The closing stages of the game belonged to Croatia, who, inspired by the outstanding Srna and lively substitute Ivica Olic, launched wave after wave of attacks.
However, Prso and Klasnic struggled to test the goalkeeper, despite a steady supply of inviting crosses.
They almost paid a heavy price for their profligacy in front of goal when Alex got free in the box two minutes from time, but Japan's Brazilian-born star lacked the necessary composure to pick out a team-mate and the chance was wasted.
A draw was just about a fair result, but neither coach will take any solace from that.
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