Japan survived a late scare from Bahrain as Okada’s men clinched 3 points at their World Cup qualifying soccer game. Shunsuke Nakamura opened the scoring with an excellent low free kick that passed through Bahrain’s protective wall past the goalie.

“First and foremost, I want to say that I’m happy that we were able to win three points in this heat,” Okada said. “I thought we played really well until the last 10 minutes. “We ended up conceding twice, but maybe this was the best way to win for us. I think we learned a valuable lesson that was more important than goal difference. But we won three points away, and I applaud the players for it.”

Highlights of the game below:

Oman put considerably more pressure on Japan than they did a couple of days ago to get a deserved draw while Japanese striker Okubo got a straight red card for kicking the Omani goalkeeper in the second half. Pretty stupid move. Japan stays on second place behind Bahrain.