Japan defeated Denmark by 3-1 in the Royal Bafokeng Stadium of Rustenburg, and has qualified to the round of 16 after placing second in Group E of the World Cup 2010 tournament. Denmark came strong in the game, had the overall ball possession and missed many chances, but soon realised that they have a very serious opponent to deal with.
Japan had a first good chance with Yasuhito Endō in 13′, forcing a fantastic save from Denmark’s goalkeeper Thomas Sørensen. But four minutes later Sørensen could do absolutely nothing to stop a powerful foul shot by Keisuke Honda that opened the score for Japan. Denmark tried to react, mostly by passing the ball to captain Jon Dahl Tomasson, a strategy that didn’t bring any results. So Japan took the opportunity and scored a second goal in 31′, again with a superb foul shot this time from Endō. The Danish players were clearly disappointed after the goal, hopelessly trying to break Japan’s defence that was now even more dangerous playing with counter attacks. Thomas Sørensen was terrified each time Japan had a close foul shot, and almost conceived a third goal that way but the post stopped Endō’s shot that the goalie was unable to properly block.
Coach Morten Olsen used all available solutions from his bench, even putting in the youngest player in the World Cup 2010 tournament, 18 year old Christian Eriksen. Denmark had a great chance to turn the game around in 79′ but Søren Larsen’s shot almost broke the goal post. Two minutes later Denmark won a penalty with Daniel Agger, Tomasson took the shot that was blocked by Eiji Kawashima, but the rebound ended up on Tomasson again that pushed the ball inside the net. Denmark came all out for the last few minutes looking for the equaliser, but Japan finished the game after scoring a third goal with Shinji Okazaki’s counter attack three minutes before the final whistle.
