HIROSHIMA -- Another day, another facile victory against another substandard team. Japan cruised to a 3-1 victory over the United Arab Emirates in the Kirin Challenge 2000 at Hiroshima's Big Arch on Wednesday, though quite where the challenge was meant to come from was difficult to see.
It certainly wasn't from Henri Michel's transitional UAE team. One would have hoped the Japanese players would challenge themselves, even in a friendly match, but with few exceptions (Naohiro Takahara, Junichi Inamoto), that wasn't the case. This was even more surprising considering the fans' reaction the last time Japan hosted the UAE. The 1997 World Cup qualifier ended 1-1 and sparked a riot at Tokyo's National Stadium as fans reacted angrily to another awful performance.
Perhaps for the 32,402 fans, the challenge was merely staying awake -- or merely staying.