"It was a hard match, we had to mobilize all our strength to win over Japan. We showed that we do not give up, fight till the end and can bring joy to our fans. I do not want to sugarcoat this win, I don’t think that. We analyzed the first two matches. The way we look at it is we received a lot of experience in Russia. I hope this will help us in the future," Nawalka told journalists.

Japan still advanced to the Round of 16 from the second place in Group H, two points behind Colombia.

The match was the last World Cup game to be played at the 44,000-seater Volgograd Arena.