Yosuke Ideguchi scored with virtually the last kick of the game to give Japan a 1-0 win over North Korea on Saturday in its opening game of the E-1 Football Championship.
Japan went into the match at Ajinomoto Stadium without its unavailable European-based players, with manager Vahid Halilhodzic fielding an entirely J. League-based team featuring only one player with more than 10 international caps.
A lively North Korea side cheered on by around 1,000 red-clad fans created the better chances throughout the 90 minutes, with debutant Japan goalkeeper Kosuke Nakamura pulling out a string of important saves to keep his team in the game.