Cerezo Osaka's Hotaru Yamaguchi opened his national team account to earn defending champion Japan its first point after a 1-1 draw with archrival South Korea at the East Asian Cup on Wednesday.

Jang Hyun-soo fired South Korea in front from the penalty spot, but World Cup midfielder Yamaguchi smashed home to level the score six minutes before halftime.

Japan, stunned 2-1 by North Korea on Monday, has one point while South Korea, a 2-0 winner over China, has four points after two games at the four-team round-robin tournament in Wuhan, China