Japan fight back to hold Australia in World Cup qualifying stalemate
The Peninsula
Saitama, Japan: Japan denied Australia a famous victory after coming back to grab a 1 1 draw in World Cup qualifying in Saitama on Tuesday. Austral...
Saitama, Japan: Japan denied Australia a famous victory after coming back to grab a 1-1 draw in World Cup qualifying in Saitama on Tuesday.
Australia had never beaten Japan on Japanese soil but a Shogo Taniguchi own goal just before the hour gave the visitors a shock lead in front of a crowd of almost 60,000.
Cameron Burgess scored an own goal at the other end eight minutes later to hand Japan an equaliser that keeps them on top of Group C on 10 points from four games.
Australia moved to five points, having taken one win and one draw in two games since new coach Tony Popovic replaced Graham Arnold last month.
Japan went into the game with a perfect record of three wins, with 14 goals scored and none conceded.