Japan defender Hiroki Sakai is determined to capitalize on the injury-enforced absence of Atsuto Uchida and also cement his place in the team at right-back at the expense of his namesake after a solid performance in Thursday's 4-0 World Cup qualifying warm-up win over Iraq.
"It's difficult (to rate your own performance) but it is all about results and winning is everything," Sakai told Kyodo News after Friday's training session in Saitama.
"Iraq were difficult opponents to judge and they had to deal with jet lag and stuff and I don't know how we would have dealt with them if we had been playing away. We had the advantage and maybe that is why we won."