Japan vs Croatia in Nürnberg

After defeats in the opening game, both Japan and Croatia seemed reluctant to take any early risks and for twenty minutes nothing much seemed to happen.

Then, in the 21st minute, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto conceded a penalty. Darijo Srna stepped forward to take the spot kick for Croatia and watched in disbelief as Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi dived the right way and saved with his left hand.

The penalty seemed to wake both teams up as Niko Kranjcar hit the bar; Mitsuo Ogasawara had a good shot saved; and Ivan Klasnic shot across the face of the goal.

Ten minutes before the break, Hidetoshi Nakata also shot from outside the area and troubled Pletikosa in the Croatian goal. Japan's fans increase the volume of their chanting.

Prso and Klasnic combined to force another Croatian corner, just before half-time but again Dado Prso headed over.

Half-time: (0:0).

Five minutes into the second-half, the ball arrived at the far post but Atsushi Yanagisawa horrendously missed an open goal and skewed the ball back across the goalmouth.

A few minutes later, Niko Kranjcar was a step to slow to properly connect with the left wing cross from Klasnic.

In attempt to get a goal in this game, Croatia went into the last few minutes with four forwards; to no avail.

Final Score:
Japan 0 - Croatia 0