Kagawa plays down France victory
Japan midfielder Shinji Kagawa has played down his country's 1-0 win over France, saying that the friendly win has not helped them achieve anything.
By ESPNSTAR.com staff
Kagawa secured the shock win over France with a late goal in Paris but he feels that the victory is a hollow one, give that Japan were on the back foot for most of the match.
The Manchester United player believes that the national side still has much to improve on.
He told reporters after the match: "It's an important result. Right now I'm in a tight spot with the team so I wanted to find some confidence. As a team we still have to improve, and it was a friendly so [Franck] Ribery didn't start, so if you think about it calmly there isn't quite a sense of having achieved anything."
"We couldn't get the ball, and all of France's players are talented and skilled so we kept losing the one-on-one's," he told reporters.
"In the first half our line got pulled back and we weren't able to attack, and we felt the pressure of playing away.
"We were confident we could move the ball around but then the game started and it wasn't that simple so more than anything it was huge for us to end the half scoreless.
"Zac [Coach Alberto Zaccheroni] told us to push our line up, but also that the players on the sides were struggling on defence so to make sure we supported them. Also he told us to get behind their full backs when we had the ball."
Japan will have a sterner test when they face Brazil in a friendly match next Tuesday.