The hosts, who defeated Ivory Coast in their opening fixture of the friendly tournament, collected the trophy despite the stalemate, with Paraguay runners-up following two draws.

Japan manager Takeshi Okada took the opportunity to rotate his squad with Celtic midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura in the starting line-up.

But the playmaker could not find an opening in the resilient South Americans' defence.

Paraguay, who lead the South American qualifying section and were preparing for their qualifier with Brazil on June 15, had the better of the chances, with Jorge Nunez's free-kick well saved by Seigo Narazaki.

Japan meet Oman on June 2 and June 7 before fixtures with Thailand and Bahrain.

mfl

Okada was not fully happy with the performance but was content to be able to assess his team's readiness for four crucial matches in three weeks.

"We wanted to score but couldn't, which was a pity," said Okada.

"However, ahead of the coming four qualifying matches, I was able to assess our players.

"I am convinced that we can play our game to some extent with whoever will play on the pitch. That was good."

Geraldo Martino believes his Paraguay side were lucky that Japan failed to capitalise on their early dominance.

"Japan played with precision and speed and we were still feeling the effects of our previous game," he said.

"That's why we couldn't play as well as we wanted in the first 25 minutes.

"If Japan could have made the most of those 25 minutes, they could have scored a goal."

Okada is scheduled to announce the squad for the World Cup qualifiers on Wednesday.