Kiwis hold Olympics-bound Japan

Thursday, 12 July 2012 12:07

Tokyo: Japan men's Olympic side played a 1-1 draw with fellow London Olympics 2012 participating New Zealand at the National Stadium on Wednesday. Dakota Lucas ensured the sharing of spoils by scoring an equaliser deep into stoppage time after Japan took a 1-0 lead in the 71st minute through substitute Kenyu Sugimoto. Japan, who will be making a fifth straight appearance in the Olympics men’s football tournament in London, will take on Spain on July 26. The Glasgow tie will be followed by a St. James’ Park match against Morocco on July 29th while the last match of the Group Stage is scheduled at Ricoh Arena, Coventry, against Honduras on August 1. “We’ll make sure to have good preparation before going into our first game against Spain and beat the teams from all over the world,”the Olympic team’s coach Takashi Sekizuka was quoted in Japan Football Association (JFA) website reacting to the match.