Ukraine
Ukraine
Japan’s World Cup preparations take a hit in loss to Ukraine
Published
Mar. 27, 2018 10:53 a.m. ET
LIEGE, Belgium (AP) Japan's preparations for the World Cup took another hit Tuesday.
The Japanese team, which will face Colombia, Senegal and Poland in Group H at the tournament in Russia, lost to Ukraine 2-1 in a friendly.
Japan has won only two of its last seven games and rarely looked capable of beating a Ukrainian team which didn't qualify for the World Cup.
In a near-empty stadium in Belgium, Yaroslav Rakitskiy put Ukraine ahead in the 21st minute with a powerful shot from outside the area that took a deflection off Japan defender Naomichi Ueda.
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Japan equalized in the 41st when Tomoaki Makino scored with a header from a free kick, but Oleksander Karavaev scored the winner in the 69th with his first international goal.
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