The Ukrainian national team managed to take revenge on the Japanese team for a defeat three years earlier. Back then, the hosts celebrated victory in Osaka. In Kyiv, however, the Ukrainian team won with a minimal score of 1:0, thanks to a goal in the 90th minute from a penalty by Andriy Husin. The penalty itself, awarded against the Japanese national team in the 89th minute, became the main irritant for the Japanese team's coach Zico, who devoted almost his entire post-match press conference to the actions of the Latvian referee Romans Lajuks.\n\nAnd on the whole, Zico was right. The 11-meter kick awarded for an alleged foul against Venhlynskyi did not even amount to a penalty, or even a minor rules violation. Given Venhlynskyi's inertness and passivity in this match, as he trudged across the field on foot, it was even hard to foul the AEK forward... And even in the penalty episode, Venhlynskyi, reaching for the ball, only leaned forward slightly and immediately fell, either slipping or getting tired...\n\nHowever, let us be more patriotic. At least in terms of the number of goal-scoring opportunities, Ukraine deserved the victory more, and the Ukrainian team was also more active in attack, and those 12 thousand fans who supported the blue-and-yellows in the rain that "poured" throughout the entire game also deserved this win. And in general, this is probably the first dubious penalty that has been awarded against our opponents...\n\nBlokhin surprised more with his starting lineup, as he had constantly stated that the experiments were over, but he did the opposite. Although, as Blokhin stated, he was forced to do so by players' illnesses, namely Shevchenko's and Voronin's colds. Although the Bayer forward was strolling in the area under the stands of the NSC "Olimpiyskyi" just a few minutes before the start of the game.\n\nGiven Fedorov's injury, Blokhin gave a place in the pair to Vashchuk and Yatsenko from the "youth team." Maksym Startsev moved into goal instead of Shovkovskyi. Shchyshchenko and the disgraced Rykun appeared in midfield from the first minutes. In attack, in Shevchenko's absence, Belik came out, with Vorobey thrown in to support him.\n\nZico was more predictable, and at least on paper his team looked more powerful, with Inamoto and Hidetoshi Nakata from the English championship, Takahara from the German "Hamburg," and Yanagisawa from the Italian "Messina" standing out.\n\nBoth coaches noted before the game that the result was not the main thing for them, and the players also did not particularly "tear up the ground" in the unpleasant rain.\n\nActive in the Ukrainian team's lineup were Rykun and Shelayev. Shchyshchenko got lost in Blokhin's tactical formations on the left flank, ran a lot but brought little benefit – Vorobey, and in general it was noticeable that the players of the midfield and attack lines did not always understand each other. In the first part of the match, it is worth noting Shchyshchenko's shot on the move, which the Japanese national team's goalkeeper saved, and Rykun's header after which the ball went over the crossbar. Belik had the most real chance to score, but having run one-on-one with the goalkeeper, he sent the ball over the goal. The Japanese team mostly played on counterattacks and did not create problems for Maksym Startsev.\n\nIn the second half, Blokhin strengthened the middle line by bringing on Rotan and Nazarenko, and this added more sharpness to the game, although there were no more chances. A rather decent debut also took place for the FC "Kharkiv" and "youth team" player Oleksandr Maksymov, who replaced Tymoshchuk and was active near the Japanese national team's goal. The guests also added sharpness near Startsev's goal. Koji Nakata shot from about 25 meters, but the goalkeeper was in place. The Ukrainians were lucky when, after a flank cross, Takahara should have scored, but the ball missed his head. In the 53rd minute, the guests helped the Ukrainians themselves. After a tackle from behind on Rotan's legs, Koji Nakata was sent off.\n\nCloser to the end of the game, the goal-scorer of the Russian "Wings" Andriy Husin decided to go on the attack and demonstrate his abilities in attack. During the 74th minute, Husin should have scored twice. First, his shot from about 20 meters was taken by the crossbar, and a few seconds later Husin, picking up the ball, ran one-on-one with the goalkeeper and shot hard and inaccurately from six meters...\n\nThree minutes later, another long-range shot by Husin went just wide of the post. Then there was the penalty. It was taken by Husin, who was active in the final minutes, and after a pause, he sent the ball into the corner of Kawaguchi's goal – 1:0. The Japanese journalists, of whom about a hundred arrived for the match, fell silent.\n\nAt the end of the game, Startsev received a yellow card for time-wasting. Currently, we have a friendly game of a certain level, from which, probably, neither the Ukrainians nor the Japanese benefited. The Japanese journalists were never able to see the real Ukrainian national team in action, just as the Japanese played at about 30% of their potential. The only pity is the offended Zico...\n\nFriendly match.\n\nUkraine - Japan 1:0\nGoal: Husin 90 - from a penalty\nUKRAINE: Startsev, Nesmachnyi, Yatsenko, Vashchuk, Husin, Tymoshchuk (Maksymov 65), Shyshchenko (Rotan 46), Shelayev (Radchenko 46), Vorobey, Rykun (Nazarenko 46, Rusol 90), Belik (Venhlynskyi 46)\nJapan: Kawaguchi, Komani, Moniwa, Tsuboi, Santos (Murai 68), K. Nakata, Inamoto, H. Nakata, Nakamura (Matsui 69), Yanagisawa (Minowa, 57), Takahara\n\nSent off: K. Nakata (54).