Japan 0
Croatia 0

Croatia missed a penalty and were held to a 0-0 draw by Japan yesterday, leaving both sides with a chance of World Cup survival.

Darijo Srna's 22nd-minute penalty miss proved costly for Croatia, who largely controlled a Group F showdown both teams were desperate to win after opening defeats.

Croatia, beaten 1-0 by Brazil in their opener last week, take on Australia in a must-win game on Thursday. Japan face the daunting task of having to beat world champions Brazil in their final group game after their 3-1 defeat by Australia.

Striker Atsushi Yanagisawa missed Japan's best chance six minutes into the second half after superbly being fed by Akira Kaji with goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa out of position but fluffing in front of an open goal.

Croatia came straight back with Niko Kranjcar poking just wide but they failed to capitalise on their territorial advantage in a scrappy second half.

The Croats, who beat Japan 1-0 on their way to the semi-finals of the 1998 World Cup, had the better of the first half with Kranjcar stinging the hands of Japan goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi early on.

But the game burst into life in the 21st minute when Japan captain Tsuneyasu Miyamoto conceded a penalty for a clumsy trip on Croatia striker Dado Prso.

However, Kawaguchi produced a brilliant save to keep Japan level, plunging low to his left to turn away Srna's firmly struck kick.

Kranjcar headed the resulting corner into the side-netting and the same player then lashed a right-foot shot against the bar in the 28th minute, compounding Croatia's frustration.

Kawaguchi was forced into another sprawling save from Ivan Klasnic five minutes before the break as Croatia pushed for the opening goal.

After the match, Japan coach Zico said it was criminal that his team had to play another afternoon match in hot weather.

"It's a crime that we had to play in this heat again," said the Brazilian. "Our last game was at three o'clock too but they want to do it that way for television. I guess business is business."

The temperature at the Frankenstadion was 27°C during the match. Japan also kicked off at 3 p.m. in their 3-1 defeat by Australia.

"We saw a very hard and tough game which we dominated," said Croatia coach Zlatko Kranjcar.

"I congratulate the Croatian and Japanese players for playing in that heat.

"We had a lot of chances but again we didn't score and that is a problem for us. We were better organised but we had a bit of bad luck. We can work more on concentration and calmness."

Croatia had 16 shots to Japan's 12 during the match but only six were on target compared to five for Zico's team.

Japan: 23-Kawaguchi; 21-Kaji, 5-Miyamoto, 22-Nakazawa, 14-Alex; 8-Ogasawara, 7-Nakata, 15-Fukunishi (17-Inamoto 46), 10-Nakamura; 9-Takahara (16-Oguro 85), 13-Yanagisawa (20-Tamada 62).

Croatia: 1-Pletikosa; 7-Simic, 4-R. Kovac, 3-Simunic; 2-Srna (22-Bosnjak 87), 5-Tudor (18-Olic 70), 10-N. Kovac, 8-Babic; 19-Kranjcar (14-Modric 78); 17-Klasnic, 9-Prso.

Referee: Frank de Bleeckere (Belgium).

Attendance: 41,000.

FIFA man of the match: Nakata.