Japan and Croatia's hopes of qualifying to the second round of the World Cup suffered a blow after they settled for a goalless draw in their Group F match in Nurnberg on Sunday. The result put Croatia and Japan in third and fourth place respectively with just one point, before first-place Australia, who have three points, face world champions Brazil. In the first-half, Croatia looked sharp in their attack with several successive attempts while Japan failed to capitalize on their counter attacks. In the 22nd minute, Japan keeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi maintained the brilliant form he showed against Australia when he dived left to block a penalty from Croatia's Darijo Serna, after Dado Prso was clipped by Tsuneyasu Miyamoto. Six minutes later, Niko Kranjcar unleashed a powerful long-range drive that deflected off the bar. In the 39th minute, Ivan Klasnic latched on to Prso's through pass inside the area before firing a low shot that was tipped by Kawaguchi. Six minutes after re-start, Atsushi Yanagisawa wasted a golden opportunity to put Japan ahead when he received Akira Kaji's misdirected shot inside the area with the goal at his mercy, but he failed to score in the empty net.
