Missing a penalty shot, the Croatians might feel like they missed a chance, but the game was a close call all the way.

Budweiser Man of the Match: Hidetoshi NAKATA (JPN):
I am sorry for the Japanese fans that we didn’t win the game. Nil-nil wasn’t a good scoreline for us. In the first half, I thought we played very well, but in the second half when Croatia stepped up the tempo, we found things extremely difficult. Now we must focus on the Brazil match. I think we still have a chance. If I didn’t, I would be going back to London straight away.

Yoshikatsu KAWAGUCHI (JPN)
I thought about diving to my right, but then I changed my mind at the last minute – and thankfully it paid off. I haven’t saved a penalty for a long time, so today came at a good time! If Croatia had scored at that time, it would have been extremely difficult for us to find a way back into the match. On the whole, we played well, but I thought the fans put in an even better performance than ourselves.

Tsuneyasu MIYAMOTO (JPN)
There were a lot of chances in today’s game, but we didn’t win it – and that was a shame. Croatia’s counterattacks were good, but I think we coped with them. Sometimes we made mistakes, but Kawaguchi helped us out with some fine goalkeeping. In the second half, Croatia slowed down their play and that gave us a chance, but unfortunately we were not able to take it. Now we must win the next game against Brazil.

Shunsuke NAKAMURA (JPN)
We knew that before this game that if we played to our maximum, we would win. Every single Japanese player gave 100 per cent, but the heat made it extremely difficult for us. We really wanted the three points, but Croatia felt the same and I think we cancelled each other out. But the point gives us hope. We now have to do our best to beat Brazil. It will be extremely difficult, but we are determined to succeed and get a place in the Round of 16.

Ivan KLASNIC (CRO)
We are creating chances and sooner or later we are going to take them. The heat made it difficult for us, but in spite of it we did very well. I don’t think the missed penalty affected us - things like this can happen to any team, we just had to get on with things. It was a good game, but it wasn’t the day for goals. We desperately need to score against Australia.

Dado PRSO (CRO)
It was a very good game and I feel happy with our performance. Obviously, we wanted to win today, but sometimes football doesn’t give you the results you want. In both games against Brazil and Japan we haven’t scored, but we have created some good chances. I’m sure that we will beat Australia. I think Japan will lose against Brazil, so I believe we still have a real chance of qualifying for the next round.

Josip SIMUNIC (CRO)
We had a lot of chances, but unfortunately we didn’t take them. In the dressing room after the game we were disappointed, but the atmosphere was extremely positive. We’re all looking forward to the game against Australia and hopefully in that match we’ll have better luck. We’ve always won our most important games in qualification and I think we’ll do the same in Stuttgart.

Darijo SRNA (CRO)
I am happy that the defence is playing well. We’ve only conceded one goal in two games and I am extremely confident that the strikers will find their shooting boots soon. Obviously, I was extremely disappointed to miss the penalty, but my team-mates were great about it. I struck the ball well, but it was a tremendous save from the Japanese goalkeeper.

Source: WCoffsite