Honda powers Japanese to victory

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This article was published 15/06/2010 (5955 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa — Keisuke Honda scored in the first half Monday to lead Japan to a 1-0 win over an uninspired Cameroon in Group E of the World Cup.

The win is Japan’s first at the World Cup on foreign soil, and puts the Japanese at the top of Group E along with the Netherlands, which beat Denmark 2-0 earlier Monday.

After a sloppy opening 30 minutes at the Free State Stadium, Japan broke the deadlock in the 39th when Daisuke Matsui’s curling cross from the right drifted over Cameroon defenders Nicolas Nkoulou and Stephane Mbia and fell to Honda at the back post. The striker neatly controlled the ball and slotted it past goalkeeper Hamidou Souleymanou.

“I found a good position and the ball was very good,” Honda said of the cross from Matsui. “I just told myself to be calm to make it because recently we have missed good chances, so I wanted to make it absolute today.

“Our strength is in our collective effort. To the very end we believed in our strength and we defended our goal,” said Honda.

Despite an attack led by Samuel Eto’o, Cameroon never really challenged Japan keeper Eiji Kawashima. The Africans struggled to control the ball and generate any rhythm up front, and even when they managed to put a few passes together, the buildup was usually wasted by poor crosses.

“We were too nervous in the first half. We lost many, many balls because we were nervous and that is why I am disappointed tonight,” Cameroon coach Paul Le Guen said. “They were not playing to their best of their ability and we were not able to release our potential this evening and that is really disappointing.”

Japan’s well-organized defence frustrated Cameroon and kept Eto’o in check. Cameroon looked lost in the midfield, and clearly missed the creativity of Arsenal midfielder Alex Song, who Le Guen opted to keep on the bench.

— The Associated Press

Japan 1 0 — 1

Cameroon 0 0 — 0

First Half

1. Japan, Keisuke Honda 1, 39th minute.

Second Half

No Scoring.

Shots — Japan: 3; Cameroon: 9.

Shots On Goal — Japan: 2; Cameroon: 2.

Attendance — 30,620.