Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Oita: Shinji Okazaki and Keisuke Honda were on target as Japan beat Tunisia 2-0 on Friday to hand Vahid Halihodzic a winning start to his reign as head coach of the Samurai Blue.
Kengo Kawamata hit the bar early on, while both Makoto Hasebe and Yoshinori Muto wasted opportunities to open the scoring in the first half as Halilhodzic, who replaced Javier Aguirre earlier this month, saw his new charges dominate throughout.
The deadlock was eventually broken on Oita on 78 minutes when Mainz striker Okazaki, on as a substitute, rose to head home Honda’s cross.
Honda duly added a second four minutes later, the AC Milan playmaker profiting after the Tunisian defence had failed to stop Shinji Kagawa’s run and pass.
Takashi Usami was denied by a post late on, but it did nothing to take the shine off a positive win for Japan who are now scheduled to face Uzbekistan on Tuesday.
Photo: AFP