OSAKA -- Osaka Gov. Fusae Ohta conferred certificates of achievement on four Japanese soccer players Tuesday for their role in this year's World Cup finals.
The four are Junichi Inamoto, 22, and Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, 25, who hail from Osaka Prefecture; and veteran midfielder Hiroaki Morishima, 30, and striker Akinori Nishizawa, 26, both of whom play for J. League second-division team Cerezo Osaka.
Miyamoto attended the award ceremony at the governor's office, while representatives stood in for the other three.
In an address, Ohta lauded their efforts and said local residents are proud of what they achieved.
In reference to the June 14 game in which Japan beat Tunisia 2-0, the governor said, "I too cheered, along with tens of thousands of people" at Nagai Stadium in Osaka.
Japan defender Miyamoto, the team's captain, said, "Of all the games we played, the greatest support we got was from Osaka."
Midfielder Inamoto, who joined the English Premier League team Fulham, emerged as a hero when he scored once in Japan's 2-2 draw with Belgium and netted the goal in Japan's 1-0 defeat of Russia in the first round.