Match report: Japan 1-1 Australia
That’s all for tonight’s blog. Joey Lynch was our man in Tokyo for the game; I’ll leave you with his report.
“Popovic will be satisfied but the game was perhaps there for the taking,” says Chris Paraskevas. “At 1-0, the changes weren’t quite adventurous enough and Irankunda’s night on the bench betrayed a lack of ambition.
“It worked tonight but might not at a World Cup.”
It’s such a difficult balance, especially when you’re 15 minutes away from such a famous victory. And it’s not like there was loads of pressure before the equaliser; it came almost out of nothing.
