It wasn't exactly the kind of welcome home party the Asian Cup-winning Japan team wanted to put on. And manager Philippe Troussier couldn't hide his disappointment -- although he tried.

The facts of the matter were that Japan spent the first 25 minutes of its first game since the Asian Cup getting a roasting from South Korea and then could only manage a 1-1 draw against 10 men after Kim Sang Sik was sent off. Japan couldn't even score from the penalty spot.

"Generally, I am satisfied with today's game," the Frenchman Troussier said. "On the mental side, the team showed its strength and dynamism and most players should be satisfied with how they played."

Generally upbeat then, but Troussier sounded like a PR man glossing over a substandard product, although he did acknowledge there were problems.

"There are some points that need improvement, but I'm satisfied to have finished the year with a certain amount of vitality," he professed, adding, in traditional enigmatic style, "We could have won or lost and I don't really want to comment on the result."

Call me a cynic, but this sounds like a man who is very unhappy with the result and the performance. And the crowd of 54,145 at Tokyo's National Stadium obviously expected better.

To be fair, Japan was up against a South Korean team with a lot of motivation. With a new coach -- Dutchman Guus Hiddink -- sitting in the stands, the South Korean players were obviously out to impress. In addition, several South Korean players play in the J. League and obviously had no desire to lose to their teammates. And, if further motivation was needed, they only had to remember that they finished third in the Asian Cup while Japan won it. Needless to say, the Koreans came out flying, with superstar pinup boy Ahn Jung Hwan of Perugia and new JEF United striker Choi Yong Soo getting into the swing of things early on.

Japan, on the other hand, seemed to be tentative. Shimizu's Ryuzo Morioka looked uncomfortable after being shoved out to the right again to allow Naoki Matsuda to play in the middle of the defense, while up front Kashiwa's Hideaki Kitajima failed to shine. Shunsuke Nakamura of the Yokohama F. Marinos again failed to get the better of some tight marking.

On the plus side, Hiroshi Nanami continued to demonstrate his new-found confidence and energy, while midfielder Teruyoshi Ito and striker Atsushi Yanagisawa worked tremendously hard throughout the game.

Japan had a couple of early half-chances that could have turned the game its way, but it was the Koreans who dominated the first quarter of the game. Ahn, teenage midfielder Lee Chun Soo, his namesake Lee Young Pyo and Vissel Kobe's Choi Sung Yong all started off in lively fashion, and the Koreans needed only 14 minutes to get on the scoreboard.

Defender Lee Min Sung fed Ahn and the Serie A striker turned well -- under virtually no pressure from the Japanese defenders -- and unleashed a shot from 20 meters that clipped Morioka's heel and flew into the back of the net.

A few minutes later, Ahn again ran through the Japan defense, although this time he was stopped in time.

Japan's first big chance came after 18 minutes when Kang Chul brought down Yanagisawa in the box. Despite the likes of Shinji Ono, Nakamura and Nanami being available, Yanagisawa got the nod to take the spot kick and his effort was turned away by goalkeeper Kim Byung Ji.

With 25 minutes gone, Yanagisawa again caused problems as he broke free. This time Kim Sang Sik brought the Japanese striker down just outside the box and Singaporean referee Shamsul Maidin sent him off.

The red card changed the nature of the match. It took the sting out of the Korean offense while giving the lackluster Japanese a bit of a boost. Unfortunately, it virtually canceled the two teams out and made for mediocre soccer.

Still, Troussier got into the spirit of things after halftime when he brought on a double dose of mediocrity -- Masashi Nakayama and Daisuke Oku -- to replace Ono and Nakamura, who went down in agony after a failed attempt to tackle Choi Sung Yong in first-half injury time.

After goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki made a fine save from Ahn early in the second half, Japan finally got things right and leveled the score. Ito fed Yanagisawa on the right and the striker played provider with an excellent cross to the far post where Toshihiro Hattori was on hand to direct a header over the Korean 'keeper into the far corner of the net.

Inevitably, Japan's numerical superiority allowed it greater possession of the ball in the second half, but with the likes of Oku, Nakayama and debutant Tomoyuki Sakai showing their deficiencies, the quality of soccer was never likely to get up to the top level. Japan came close a couple of times, but a draw was probably the right result.

When asked what went wrong, particularly in the first half, Troussier admitted: "We lost the ball too quickly up front and didn't protect it enough. The Koreans were good at taking the ball off us."

Morioka agreed with his manager that the team underperformed.

"We couldn't do anything at all today and we lacked sharpness and physical fitness, especially me," he said. "I'm not very happy with today's performance."

Nakamura sidelined

YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) Yokohama and Japan midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura will miss the rest of the season-ending Emperor's Cup after picking up an ankle injury in Wednesday night's 1-1 draw with South Korea, officials of the J. League First Division club said Thursday.

Nakamura, recently voted the J. League Player of the Year and a member of the Japan squad which won the Asian Cup in October, has damaged ligaments in his right ankle and will be sidelined for 3-5 weeks, according to Yokohama's medical staff.

The victim of a heavy challenge just before halftime at Tokyo's National Stadium, Nakamura failed to come out for the second half.

The 22-year-old Olympic star is expected to be fit in time for Japan's training camp in February.