Japan salvage draw with Mali in World Cup warm up
By AFP | Published: 23rd March 2018 11:03 PM |
Last Updated: 23rd March 2018 11:03 PM | A+A A- |
PARIS: Japan needed an injury-time equaliser from Shoya Nakajima to hold Mali to a 1-1 draw in a World Cup warm-up match in Belgium on Friday.
The Japanese were using this game in Liege to gauge their technique against a team similar to World Cup Group H rivals Senegal, the African champions. Japan also face Poland and Colombia in the Russia 2018 first-round.
Mali opened the scoring from the penalty spot shortly before half-time when Abdoulay Diaby's powerful conversion flew into the top corner of Japan goalkeeper Kosuke Nakamura's net.
Nakajima then saved face for Japan in the 95th minute when he scrambled the ball over the line from close range after Kento Misao had centred well.
