Saturday 3rd July 2010 - Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg - Att. 55,359
Referee: Carlos Batres (Guatemala)
LINEUPS:
Japan (433): Kawashima, Komano,Nagatomo, Nakazawa, Tanaka (Konno 79'), Abe, Endo (Nakamura 45'), Hasebe, Honda, Okubo (Tamada 60'), Matsui
Portugal (433): Eduardo, Costa, Coentrao, Carvalho, Alves, Mendes, Tiago, Meireles, Ronaldo, Simao (Almeida 86'), Danny (Veloso 64')
The last quarterfinal was another defensively-minded contest that only needed the one goal to determine a winner. Japan fought hard to try and break down the Portuguese defence but were foiled at every turn throughout the first half. Portugal also had difficulty in getting a look at goal with Yuichi Komano especially lively at the back for Japan.
At the end of a half where Ronaldo was the only player to hit the target when his shot deflected into the arms of Kawashima the fans were probably happy there was some entertainment during the interval. The match continued where it left off and the first real chance did not come until the hour mark when a cross by Costa was headed down by Simao and shot off the top of the crossbar by Fabio Coentrao.
Portugal always looked the most likely to score and they had another chance, this coming in the 78th minute, when Tiago's intelligent ball to Veloso allowed the substitute midfielder to find Raul Meireles in the box but his shot only found the side netting.
Then with extra time six minutes away Japan broke Portuguese hearts with a stunning counter attack. It all began with Nakazawa cutting out a hard pass and then moving it forward for Abe. The midfielder then skipped one challenge before feeding it through the defence for Daisuke Matsui to hammer it home and make it an all-Asian semifinal against South Korea.
Japan 1 - 0 Portugal
Goalscorers:
JPN Matsui 84' (2)
Discipline:
POR Meireles 56'
Man of the Match:
JPN Yuichi Komano
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