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Soren Larsen hit the bar from long range, then Hasebe pushed Daniel Agger and the defender fell. There was a flicker of hope for the Danes before Japan's third. Their sombre manager, Morten Olsen, admitted afterwards that they had paid for not taking their chances but he also paid tribute to Honda. Arsenal's Nicklas Bendtner was also disappointing. With matters becoming ever more urgent, Jon Dahl Tomasson found himself alone eight yards out and miscued his shot. I told them to summon all their courage to be aggressive."ĭenmark, needing a win, had started purposefully enough and also tried to press in the second half but they lacked the class to do so. "I did not want to concentrate only on defence. "They were courageous, they were not cowardly at all," he said later. Japan's coach, Takeshi Okada, had told them to play without fear. Even with their lead cut to a single goal and with the clock ticking down, they continued to attack, getting another reward when Honda combined with Shinji Okazaki for the third.
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Their front three of Yoshito Okubo, Honda and Makoto Hasebe buzzed around the static defence. They impressed every time they swept forward. The Jabulani ball is used in the J-League and Japan, used to its idiosyncrasies, adopted a shoot-on-sight policy. He also misjudged the flight of a less impressive free-kick from Endo and only just managed to knock it on to the bar. On a pitch that will haunt England's goalkeeper Robert Green for ever, Sorensen had a really unhappy evening. Eddie Jones will want to avenge that result and claim the trophy before he bows out as England’s boss but hosts France and three-time winners. South Africa will be looking to defend their title after they defeated England 32-12 in the 2019 final in Japan. Endo repeated the trick soon after for their second, but from a more central position. The 2023 Rugby World Cup runs from Friday 8 September to Saturday 28 October, with games played across France. He shifted his balance and got his positioning wrong. Sorensen, impressive in their win against Cameroon, was culpable. The CSKA Moscow striker, one of the few Japanese players to play outside the J-League, unleashed a swerving, dipping free-kick that suggested he has fully tamed the ball. From at least 30 yards his patience was more than rewarded. The impressive Honda also took his time when sizing up a free-kick from the right after 17 minutes. Japan had initially appeared to be playing for the draw that would earn passage to the second round on goal difference and within half an hour they had had two players booked for time-wasting. "Why is that not the case? Maybe because we have not finished the competition. "I had expected to be really jubilant if we won today," he said. Within 13 first-half minutes Japan booked a place in the second round – they will now face the Group F winners Paraguay in Pretoria on Tuesday.Īny watching Adidas executives also breathed a sigh of relief as first Keisuke Honda's 30-yard free-kick flew past Thomas Sorensen and then Yasuhito Endo curled the firm's controversial ball sweetly beyond the Danish wall.Īfterwards Honda said he would be satisfied only if Japan progress further. Typical: you wait ages for a blockbuster free-kick at this World Cup, then two come almost at once.