Japan breaks drought; Poland dominates
MOSCOW: Japan claimed its first victory of the year yesterday, coming from behind to beat Paraguay 42 and boost sagging morale a week before its opening World Cup group H match against Colombia.
It was The Blue Samurai’s first win under coach Akira Nishino, who had lost friendlies against Ghana and Switzerland since taking over in April.
Japan, which has qualified for the World Cup for a sixth consecutive time, scored four times despite managing only three shots against Paraguay, which failed to reach the World Cup finals.
Takashi Inui set up the victory at the TivoliNeu stadium in the Austrian city of Innsbruck with two secondhalf goals, both assisted by Shinji Kagawa. Paraguay’s Federico Santander scored an own goal and Kagawa put the result beyond doubt with a stoppagetime effort.
Fellow group H side Poland ended its World Cup warmup fixtures with a resounding 40 win over Lithuania as talismanic striker Robert Lewandowski netted twice in the first half.
The 29yearold skipper took his tally to 55 international goals and also scored for the 36th time in 37 Poland games under coach Adam Nawalka.
Dawid Kownacki and Jakub Blaszczykowski were also on target for the Poles at Stadion Narodowy in Warsaw.
Poland begins its group H campaign in Moscow against Senegal next Wednesday.
A Spain coach Julen Lopetegui will leave his post after the end of the World Cup to take charge at Real Madrid, the Champions League winners said in a surprise announcement just two days before the start of the tournament in Russia.
Lopetegui (51) has signed a threeyear contract and takes over from Frenchman Zinedine Zidane, who stepped down two weeks ago, days after leading Real to a third consecutive Champions League title.
Lopetegui, who last month signed a new contract through to 2020 with Spain, spent three years with Real as a player, making a solitary first team appearance in 1990.
The Spanish Football Federation said in a statement that it would receive ‘‘the full buyout clause so the current national team boss can sign for Real Madrid’’. — Reuters