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Japan makes history with first-ever World Cup finals triumph over Russia

After collecting its first-ever World Cup finals point in its opening match against Belgium, Japan reached another milestone June 9 when the "Boys in Blue" beat Russia 1-0 at International Stadium Yokohama.

Arsenal player and FIFA Man-of-the-Match Junichi Inamoto struck six minutes into the second half for Japan's winning goal.

Goalscorer Inamoto said: "I'm happy to have scored again, but more important than individual results are team results. I think we've changed the view people have of Japanese soccer with this victory."

"This is a very important moment for the nation and Japanese football," jubilant Japan coach Philippe Troussier added. "It was a brilliant performance tonight when we needed a victory."

The co-host had fantastic support from the crowd of 66,108 fans who were all decked out in the team's official colors, cheering Japan's every single play and gasping on dangerous scoring chances by their opponents. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was also there, cheering on Japan.

Midfielder Hidetoshi Nakata summed up by saying, "This victory is not about who scored and who did well. Everybody was a part of this win tonight."

In other developments, England survived the "Group of Death" with a 0-0 draw with Nigeria on June 12. England finished second in Group F with five points. Sweden also finished with five points after drawing 1-1 with Argentina but topped the group with more goals scored.

The pre-tournament favorite Argentina followed in the footsteps of defending champion France, which was knocked out of the World Cup after a 2-0 loss to Denmark on June 11 without scoring a single goal in all three of its matches.

Shukan ST: June 21, 2002

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