Saitama ¨C After five days of uncertainty following a halfhearted defeat in Jeddah, the Samurai Blue had a message for nearly 15,000 fans at Saitama Stadium on Tuesday night: There¡¯s still plenty left to play for.
A dramatic own goal late in the second half gave Japan a 2-1 win over archrival Australia, putting head coach Hajime Moriyasu¡¯s side back into contention for one of Group B¡¯s two automatic World Cup berths after beginning the final group round with two losses from three games.
¡°We¡¯ve had a lot of tough games where we couldn¡¯t get the result we wanted, but the players are working hard before every game to reach the World Cup and they put out everything they had to get today¡¯s result,¡± Moriyasu said.
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