The Blue Samurai of Japan have comfortably beaten Denmark 3-1 in their third group match in Rustenburg to book their place in the last 16 of the World Cup.
First half goals of Japan came from consecutive free kicks of Keisuke Honda (17th minute) and Yasuhito Endo(30th minute) at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium early Friday morning in Korean Standard Time. Shinji Okazaki added a solid third in the 87th minute, shortly after a Jon Dahl Tomasson’s 81st minute goal had given Denmark a glimmer of hope.
As runners up in Group E with two wins against one loss(six points), Japan will now face Paraguay in Pretoria on Tuesday for a place in quarter-finals.
This is the first time that Japan has ever joined the last 16 in the World Cup overseas. The Asian country also advanced to the round of 16 in 2002, when Korea and Japan co-hosted.
Japan has also become the second Asian country, following South Korea, to jump to the top 16 itne ongoing World Cup.
The three-time Asian Cup champions join Netherlands, who confirmed first place in the group by beating an already-eliminated Cameroon 2-1 in Cape Town.
A first half strike from Robin van Persie and a second by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar seven minutes from time ensured Netherlands finished with a 100 percent record at the top of Group E setting up a second round clash with Italy's vanquishers Slovakia in Durban on Monday.
The win over an already-eliminated Cameroon team in Cape Town completed a comfortable group stage for the Dutch, despite not playing their best football.
They will be boosted though by the return of Arjen Robben who came on as a second half substitute.
The Danes were comprehensively outplayed by Japan who produced their most resolute and skilful display of the tournament so far.
Denmark, who needed to win the match to have any chance of progressing to the knockout stages, started their match with Japan brightly. Skipper Jon Dahl Tomasson saw a chance go narrowly wide in the opening minutes.
But two Japanese strikes within 13 minutes of each other stunned the Danes.
Honda gave Japan the lead in the 17th minute with fine free kick which flew past keeper Thomas Sorensen who appeared to be deceived by the flight of the ball.
Yasuhito Endo doubled Japan's lead in the 30th minute when he curled a beautifully executed free kick around the Danish wall and past the despairing dive of Sorenson.
If the Danish keeper was possibly at fault for the first goal, there was nothing he could do with Endo's strike which found the bottom left corner of the net.
The second half didn't get any better for the Danish keeper when he fumbled an innocuous looking free kick from Yasuhito Endo. His blushes were saved when the ball cannoned to safety off his right had post.
Jon Dahl Tomasson scored for Denmark in the 81st minute, turning in the rebound from his own penalty kick which had been awarded for a push on Daniel Agger. But it was too little too late for the 1992 European Champions.
Moments later, Okazaki scored a third for Japan after Keisuke Honda unselfishly laid the ball on for him.
It sealed a memorable win and qualification for the last 16 on foreign soil for the first time in their history.
But man-of-the-match Honda believes Japan could go even further in the tournament.
"I expected to be really jubilant but I'm not as jubilant as I thought I would be because I don't think we are finished here. I believe we can go further in this competition," the CSKA Moscow star said, AFP reported.
日, 덴마크에 3-1 완승… 첫 원정 16강 진출
'사무라이 블루' 일본이 유럽의 강호 덴마크를 쓰러뜨리는 파란을 일으키며 16강 대열에 합류했다.
일본은 25일 새벽(한국시간) 루스텐버그 로열 바포켕 스타디움에서 열린 덴마크와의 2010 남아공 월드컵 E조 3차전에서 혼다, 엔도의 연속 프리킥골과 오카자키의 추가골에 힘입어 3-1로 승리했다. 덴마크는 토마손이 한 골을 만회하는데 그쳤다.
2승 1패(승점 6점)를 기록한 일본은 네덜란드(승점 9점)에 이어 조 2위로 사상 첫 원정 월드컵 16강에 진출했다. 일본은 2002 한일 월드컵 16강 진출에 이어 8년 만에 16강에 오르는 기쁨을 누리게 됐다.
일본의 16강 상대는 F조 1위 파라과이로 정해졌다. 일본과 파라과이의 16강전은 오는 29일 프리토리아에서 열린다.