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Well, that was close. Japan scraped enough together at the end to beat North Korea at home and begin its World Cup qualification with three points. VVV Venlo defender Maya Yoshida won it in stoppage time with a powerful header. It was far from the outstanding performance in Tyler Higbee Jersey the August win over South Korea, but in the end Japan got a valuable win to begin its journey to get to Brazil.The match was basically one of those Carling Cup affairs where Liverpool or Chelsea play Havant & Waterlooville (no disrespect) and spend the entire 90 minutes pa sing the ball around but in the end lack the cutting edge to put the ball in the net and prevent an arduous replay. Japan kept the ball well on the wings and pa sed it around their opponents with ease, but lacked the creativity to get behind the back four. Most of the attacks ended with Atsuto Uchida putting in an underwhelming ball.Zaccheroni again showed his managing skills with two astute second half changes in an effort to Allen Robinson Jersey prevent the match from ending in a predictable and disappointing draw. He took off Yosuke Kashiwagi who had a largely pedestrian evening filling in for the injured Keisuke Honda, and threw on the Cerezo Osaka youngster Hiroshi Kiyotake. Then in the 70th, Zacc gave a highly-anticipated debut for Mike Havenaar. The presence Jared Hocker Jersey of the two subs galvanized the team to pursue a crucial goal, and for the final twenty minute Japan laidsiegeon the North Korean box, banging a couple shots off the cro sbar and forcing keeper Myong-Guk Ri to make several superb saves. They got the goal three minutes into stoppage Isaac Bruce Jersey time, as Yoshida put in Kiyotakes ball.Improve: Kagawa, Endo, and Kashiwagi lacked ideas in the final third and couldnt get behind the North Korean defense. Obviously the absence of Honda and Nagatomo took away some quality attacking members, but the overwhelming reliance on balls from the wings should be addre sed.Good: Havenaar brings an Andy Carroll type to the team excellent in the air but with good technical abilities. He can be a good plan b if Japan needs to get the ball up top quickly, and his skill ensures he wont disrupt the teams short pa sing. Coleman Shelton Jersey It was also good to see some young J. League players in the squad.Man of the Match: Makoto Hasebe put in an excellent shift as captain. He showed good attacking prowe s in addition to his usual defensive contributions.Next up, an away match at Uzbekistan, the growing continental force. Hopefully Japan will show its cutting edge.