With both teams needing a victory to keep hopes of advancement alive, Croatia and Japan struggled to a scoreless draw on Sunday afternoon in Nuremberg. Croatia had the upper hand in the first half but couldn't convert on a penalty early in the game after a clumsy Japanese challenge in the box.

Japan too had its chances -- the best coming in the opening minutes of the second half -- but often looked tentative on the attack. Too often, the Japanese tried to force the attack up the middle rather than using their wings. The result was a number of shots from distance that only rarely created problems for the Croatian keeper Stipe Pletikosa.

The result is a point for each team, which is enough to keep their hopes alive for advancement, but puts them at the bottom of Group F with a point a piece. Brazil and Australia have three points each ahead of their clash later on Sunday.

In the 22nd minute, Japanese captain Tsuneyasu Miyamoto tripped up Dado Prso just in front of his own goal for a clear penalty. But keeper Yoshikatsu lunged to his left to block the hard but inaccurate shot by Darijo Srno.

The brilliant save by their keeper did little to energize the Japanese and Croatia had another dangerous shot on goal in the 29th minute. Midfielder Niko Kranjcar drove one from distance off the crossbar above Yoshikatsu's fingertips.

Japan had a sure-thing shot on goal just minutes after the break. Akira Kaji did all the work pushing deep into the Croatian box and expertly fed striker Atsushi Yanagisawa in front of an out-of-position Croatian keeper. But Yanagisawa inexplicably tried to flick the ball in with the outside of his right foot and pushed it right back where it came from and past the far post.

The closing minutes of the match were frenetic with both teams making runs forward, but exhaustion was taking its toll and neither could finish. Alex managed to break down the Croatian defense in the 88th minute, but none of his team mates advanced with him leaving his cross to be harmlessly cleared by the Croatian defense. The resulting corner likewise produced problems in front of the Croatian goal, but the ball refused to go in.

Croatia too had chances late with a shot by forward Olic Ivica threading through the Japanese defense in the 82nd minute, but sliding just wide of the far post.

Both teams seemed tentative in the opening moments of the match in the knowledge that a loss would put them out of the tournament. Both seemed content to rely on ball control and periodic thrusts forward. For Japan, the result was a number of shots from distance including a Hidetoshi Nakata drive testing Pletikosa in the 36th minute. Nakata was declared Man of the Match.

But Croatia largely controlled play in the first half and would have gone ahead but for the excellent play of Japan's keeper.