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Japan made history for itself in succeeding in deservedly qualifying for the second round of the World Cup, Friday, with a 2:0 win over Tunisia. The win gives it top spot in Group H and a seeded place against Turkey on June 18. Despite dominating the match Japan failed to make much headway in the opening minutes, moving forward, but failing to produce the winning move.
Both sides settled down to relying on long balls and not conceding a goal, until Atsushi Yanagisawa fired a shot at goal that had Tunisian keeper Ali Boumnijel at full stretch. Tunisia replied with a Ziad Jaziri attempt that flew well wide of the mark.
Hiroaki Morishimi opened the scoring three minutes into the second half with a 15 meter shot past Boumnijel after a defending tackle pushed the ball to him. He was unlucky minutes later when a header off a cross from Daisuke Ichikawa hit the post.
This opened up a period of Japanese pressure with first a wide shot by Ichikawa and a header from Shinji Ono, which Boumnijel pushed for a corner. Ten minutes later Hidetoshi Nakata was on the receiving end of a cross from Ichikawa and headed home through the goalkeeper's legs.
Tunisia counterattacked, and came close when Ali Zitouni hit the bar from the edge of the area, but Japan had done enough to secure their victory and advancement.
(Chris Price, chris@chosun.com )
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