Japan coach Takeshi Okada has expressed his disappointment at his side's failure to beat South Africa on Saturday.
The Blue Samurai failed to put any real pressure on the Bafana Bafana defence as they played out to a goalless draw at the Nelson Mandela Stadium in Port Elizabeth.
Okada attributed his side's failure to win the game to them not playing as a unit, but did manage to pull some positives out of the tie.
"In the first half we couldn't really play our style of soccer, but in the second period we started to move around and played at a faster pace, but the problem was that we didn't have enough team players today," he said.
However, the Japan boss did take comfort from the fact that his charges picked up some valuable experience on South African soil ahead of next year's World Cup.
"We are very disappointed that we could not win today, but it was a great experience that we gained and the atmosphere was great. I am glad we have gained this experience," he said.
"It was a privilege to play against a highly motivated team like South Africa and we appreciated the opportunity."
By Neall de Beer
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