World Cup - Japan 2 Tunisia 0

Japan raised their game in the second half to see off Tunisia and take their place in the second round.

They now face Turkey in Miyaga on Tuesday.

A header from a great cross by Daisuke Ichikwawa in the 75th minute was headed in by Hidetoshi Nakata who was a good influence on Japan in their second half display.

Hiraoki Morishima made all the difference and scored less than three minutes after his introduction at the start of the second half.

The midfielder was pushed up into attack by coach Philippe Troussier and he turned and struck in a ball played across his own penalty area by defender Raouf Bouzayne.

Two minutes later he struck the post with a glancing header after fellow substitute Daisuke Ichikawa struck in a curling cross from the right wing for the goal scorer to dive across his marker and hit the target.

The game need to spring to life as Japan managed only one shot on the first half.

Atsushi Yanagisawa hit a low drive from outside the penalty area that Tunisian goalkeeper Ali Boumnigel dived well to save.

The African side concentrated on defence in the first half and Japan had no way to break through.

Tunisia had a chance in the last minute of the first half when Khaled Badra met a corner form the left with a glancing header and seconds later Hatem Trabelsi was felled on a run into the penalty area by Kazuyuki Toda but no penalty kick was given luckily for the co-hosts.