A thrilling, pure attacking game of football saw both -Uruguay and Japan – scoring twice to bag one point each.
A turmoil young Japanese side who came from a 4-0 thrashing by the hands of Chile, showed a surprisingly well display against Uruguay.
Uruguay had some very close early attempt but Japan started showing their dominance early in the game. Only in the 2nd minute of the game Luis Suarez struck an audacious volley from the half way line only missing the goal by a few inches.
A counter attack lead to a 25th minute goal by Japanese midfielder Koji Miyoshi, by a brilliant right footed strike from inside the box. A few minutes later Uruguay were awarded a controversial penalty by VAR assistance for a foul on Edinson Cavani which was converted by Luis Suarez, levelling the score in the 32nd minute.
Cavani scored a thunderous shot aiming towards the goal only to be denied by the crossbar. Early in the second half Japan’s frustrations grew as Jose Gimenez apparently fouled Shoya Nakajima inside the Uruguayan box, but the referee denied any penalty.
In the 59th minute Miyoshi again gave the Japanese side lead when Uruguayan goalkeeper Muslera came out to claim a cross but put the ball right in front of Miyoshi who doubled the score for Japan. Soon enough Jose Maria Gimenez scored a perfect header from a corner kick to level the score again at 66 minutes.
“We played well in general but we learned that in tournaments of this quality if you make two errors you can concede two goals so we have to be more careful,” Suarez told reporters.
“They are young and fast but we know they have a lot of quality. They pressed us well and they didn’t let us play the way we wanted.
“We knew what this game could be like, their result against Chile didn’t tell the full story.” he added.
Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu spoke to the media post match and said “This draw will help us grow because Uruguay is one of the top teams in international football,” “This point will help us develop and boost our confidence.”
Uruguay will face Chile next and Japan will play Ecuador on Tuesday, 25/06.