A second-half own goal by Swedish defender Johan Mjallby earned Japan a deserved 1-1 draw in their Kirin Challenge Cup friendly at Tokyo's National Stadium on Saturday. Sweden had taken a first-half lead through the deadly finishing of English Premier League side Aston Villa's latest recruit Marcus Allback.

Japan started the game in lively fashion in front of a capacity home crowd, dominating possession and earning two corners in the early stages of the first half. Kazuyuki Toda made his presence felt in midfield, getting in some hard challenges as Japan continued to press while lacking creativity in the final third of the pitch.

"I'm satisfied with the performance as we played a good game today. The result has brought some confidence to the team, particularly as Sweden is a top team," Japan coach Philippe Troussier said. "This will give us some momentum going into the World Cup." Troussier had opted for a 3-6-1 formation as part of his ongoing experimentation ahead of the World Cup.

In the 14th minute a through ball over the top from Hidetoshi Nakata saw Hiroaki Morioka clumsily brought down just outside the box presenting Nakata with an opportunity to test out the new adidas ball to be used at the World Cup. His free-kick was a disappointment, however, failing to clear the wall.

Nakata and Junichi Inamoto linking well in midfield found Toshihiro Hattori, playing in an unaccustomed role down the left wing, on a number of occasions in the first half, yet his failure to produce a cross of any quality must have had Troussier penciling in Alessandro Santos for the left-wing role.

Sweden's opener in the 20th minute came somewhat against the run of play with Glasgow Celtic ace Henrik Larsson breaking down the left, sending in a low cross into the box for Allback to beat Japan goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki and Koji Nakata to the ball with a toe-poke from close range.

Captain Ryuzo Morioka and his defense had looked reasonably composed up to that point, yet fingers could be pointed at Morioka for ball watching and Nakata for failing to properly cover Allback.

Stung into action, Japan went in search of an equalizer, engaging in a sequence of aerial ping-pong in the Swedish box but again an evident lack of authority in attack left Troussier wondering how his team was ever going to find the back of the net.

The answer to this poser arrived in the second half with the appearance of Emperor Akihito in the stands and more significantly the introduction of Alessandro Santos on the left wing.

Within minutes of having come onto the pitch a pumped up Santos won a corner on the left and signaled to the crowd to lift their team's spirits. In the 63rd minute, Santos again broke down the left, sending in a teasing cross that eluded Hidetoshi Nakata leaving the shocked Mjallby to bundle the ball into his own net.

Moments earlier, Arsenal and Swedish midfielder Freddie Ljungberg had surged upfield and unleashed a cracking shot from outside the box which Narazaki did very well to save.

The game shifted down a gear after Japan's equalizer with both teams content to sit back and avoid injuries before the big event.

Troussier continued to shuffle his pack with a series of second-half substitutions, none of which had any significant impact on the state of the game. At halftime Troussier had abandoned his 3-6-1 formation in favor of his preferred 3-5-2 pattern, bringing on Takayuki Suzuki to partner Atsushi Yanagisawa up front with Morishima, Naoki Matsuda and the ineffective Hattori coming off and Tsuneyasu Miyamoto and Tomokazu Myojin joining the action.

These moves appeared to be effective as Japan appeared far more composed in the second half, although its lack of fire power up front will be of cause for concern for Troussier. On the positive side, Santos played a stormer and staked a strong claim for a place in the starting lineup with a great performance.

Troussier will do well not too read too much into the result as this was a tame friendly with Sweden unwilling to commit too much so close to the start of the World Cup.

"We drew today but we fought back from a goal down apan ties Sweden 1-1 which is good for us and good for team morale," said Japanese playmaker Hidetoshi Nakata.

Swedish coach Lars Lagerback commented that the positioning of some of his defenders was not good and added, "Japan are a technically good side which has a lot of quick players and has good movement in midfield but they are not as effective as they should be up front."