Japan hold Romania at bay

Romania 1-1 Japan
Romania were held by Japan in a friendly game in Bucharest on Saturday.

Play-off chance
The home side could be forgiven for having their minds elsewhere - if Norway and Bosnia-Herzegovina fail to win qualifiers later tonight in UEFA EURO 2004 Group 2 then Romania will finish second in the section and reach the play-offs for next summer's finals in Portugal.

Mutu opener
Chelsea FC striker Adrian Mutu delighted a crowd of 10,000 at the modest Dinamo stadium, opening the scoring for the home side after 16 minutes with a low shot which somehow slipped through the fingers of Japan goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi.

Japanese revival
Japan nearly equalised a minute later as Sampdoria UC striker Atsushi Yanagisawa's shot was smothered by Romania goalkeeper Bogdan Lobont. The AFC Ajax goalkeeper had veteran midfield player Dorinel Munteanu to thank ater 37 minutes as he cleared Yuji Nakazawa's powerful header off the line.

Yanagisawa leveller
Reggina Calco midfield player Shunsuke Nakamura and Feyenoord star Shinji Ono helped Japan to fight their way back into the game in the second period, and Yanagisawa levelled the scores with a fine shot after 58 minutes. While both sides had chances to win the game, a draw was the fair result.