TOKYO - Substitute Koki Ogawa scored the 87th-minute winner as Japan saw off Iceland 1-0 in their World Cup send-off match on Sunday.
The 18th-ranked Samurai Blue were given a good test by 75th-ranked Iceland at Tokyo's MUFG Stadium but made sure they depart for the tournament on a winning note ahead of Group F matches against the Netherlands, Tunisia and Sweden.
"We know it's not so easy to win the World Cup. But I believe we can achieve our goal if the whole of Japan comes together and cheers us on," manager Hajime Moriyasu said during a send-off ceremony after the match.
Moriyasu made 11 substitutions during the match, which Japan's 2022 World Cup skipper Maya Yoshida started with the captain's armband, in his first appearance since the previous tournament in Qatar.
While the 37-year-old is not in the current World Cup squad, Moriyasu called him up to acknowledge his service, while also letting the Los Angeles Galaxy defender impart his knowledge during the week leading up to the match.
The veteran received an ovation from the crowd after a solid 13 minutes of action and shook hands with players from both teams as they formed a guard of honor to cheer him from the pitch.
Japan had Keito Nakamura send a low shot wide from a tight angle in the eighth minute, while Iceland played out from the back patiently and came close to scoring when left-back Logi Tomasson's 31st-minute strike from 25 meters out curled just wide.
Wataru Endo, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Ko Itakura were all given starts as they looked to prove their fitness following their injury-hit seasons in Europe, and Tomiyasu was especially sharp in a first half that ended with his volley being saved by Iceland keeper Hakon Valdimarsson.
Yuto Nagatomo played his back-pass short during a nervous moment early in the second half, but the 39-year-old tested the opposing goal with a volley minutes later, while his fellow halftime substitute Ogawa's shot from the edge of the box sailed narrowly wide in the 63rd minute before he made the decisive breakthrough late on.
Yukinari Sugawara, who provided several good deliveries after also coming on at the break, whipped another ball into the box and Ogawa glanced in a low header off the left-hand post.
"That's my strength and I'm glad to have proved it," the NEC Nijmegen forward said, after helping Japan extend their perfect record against Iceland to four straight wins.
Takefusa Kubo, who wore the captain's armband for part of his 83-minute outing, vowed to perform "better than the last tournament both individually and collectively," adding "we will aim to bring the trophy home."
Japan leave Tuesday for their pretournament camp in Monterrey, Mexico, before moving to their base camp in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 8. They open their tournament against the Netherlands on June 14.
