Japan coach Takeshi Okada was disappointed to see his side fail to capitalise on their chances on Wednesday as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Uzbekistan in World Cup qualifying.
The Uzbeks entered the match at Saitama Stadium 2002 without a point and a goal after consecutive losses to Qatar and Japan last month but took a surprise lead in the 27th minute when Maksim Shatskikh turned in Timur Kapadze's low cross.
Keiji Tamada levelled in the 40th minute but Japan failed to turn their dominance into goals after the break.
"It is a great shame to get this result as we were looking for three points at home. We created good chances in the second half but couldn't score on them," said Okada.
"I don't think the concept of our game is incorrect: We should just carry on with that.
"But what I regret is that that our players looked a little afraid when they were under pressure in the first half. If they had played a little more aggressively then we would have had more chances from the first half."
Japan are looking to make a fourth consecutive World Cup appearance and Okada, who led the team to the 1998 finals in France, remains upbeat about his team's chances
"We still have a few games to play in qualifying. There's nothing to be pessimistic about," he added.
"It would have been better to have six points after two games but this is football. You cannot get it just because you want it.
"We'll go for three points in our next away game in Qatar," he added.
Uzbekistan coach Mirdjalal Kasimov felt the advice given to him by his successor at Uzbek club Kuruvchi, Zico, proved helpful as the central Asians picked up their first point in Group Two.
"It was an interesting and tough game," said Kasimov after his first competitive match in charge. "Following our first two defeats in the qualifiers, we really wanted to earn three points by any means today.
"We knew we would have to defend hard against Japan and that required great patience but we did that and got this result."
Kasimov got a helping hand in his preparations from Zico, who is now in charge of Kuruvchi having led leading Japan to the 2006 World Cup finals.
"Our players did well to follow the game plan and every bit of advice I got from Zico really helped us a lot.
"But [Shunsuke] Nakamura did what I expected, creating chances with his wonderful passes on the left side and we gave up the goal due to his wonderful pass combined with our mistake."
Keiji Tamada levelled in the 40th minute but Japan failed to turn their dominance into goals after the break.
"It is a great shame to get this result as we were looking for three points at home. We created good chances in the second half but couldn't score on them," said Okada.
"I don't think the concept of our game is incorrect: We should just carry on with that.
"But what I regret is that that our players looked a little afraid when they were under pressure in the first half. If they had played a little more aggressively then we would have had more chances from the first half."
Japan are looking to make a fourth consecutive World Cup appearance and Okada, who led the team to the 1998 finals in France, remains upbeat about his team's chances
"We still have a few games to play in qualifying. There's nothing to be pessimistic about," he added.
"It would have been better to have six points after two games but this is football. You cannot get it just because you want it.
"We'll go for three points in our next away game in Qatar," he added.
Uzbekistan coach Mirdjalal Kasimov felt the advice given to him by his successor at Uzbek club Kuruvchi, Zico, proved helpful as the central Asians picked up their first point in Group Two.
"It was an interesting and tough game," said Kasimov after his first competitive match in charge. "Following our first two defeats in the qualifiers, we really wanted to earn three points by any means today.
"We knew we would have to defend hard against Japan and that required great patience but we did that and got this result."
Kasimov got a helping hand in his preparations from Zico, who is now in charge of Kuruvchi having led leading Japan to the 2006 World Cup finals.
"Our players did well to follow the game plan and every bit of advice I got from Zico really helped us a lot.
"But [Shunsuke] Nakamura did what I expected, creating chances with his wonderful passes on the left side and we gave up the goal due to his wonderful pass combined with our mistake."
Copyright (c) Press Association
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