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Saitama - Japan coach Takeshi Okada said his boss had told him to stay on for next month's World Cup despite his side's 2-0 defeat to South Korea in Monday's one-sided friendly.
Okada said he had asked Japan Football Association (JFA) president Motoaki Inukai about his tenure after the humiliating defeat by their bitter rivals, which has made his much-touted target of a semifinal spot in South Africa even more unrealistic.
"The president told me to 'go on' and I believe we will only have to go forward," Okada said. "It is not that I have lost my confidence but I wanted to ask him the question because he may also become the centre of debate."
Inukai kept faith with Okada in February when Japan lost to South Korea 3-1 in the East Asian championship in Tokyo, with both sides fielding only domestic league players.
But after the home-based stars were crushed for a second time, losing 3-0 to a second-string Serbia in April, Okada's credibility plunged.
In South Africa, Japan will be grouped with the Netherlands, Cameroon and Denmark for their fourth straight World Cup appearance since their winless debut under Okada in 1998.
Japan and South Korea on Monday were both at full strength with all their Europe-based stars present.
South Korea skipper and Manchester United winger Park Ji-Sung scored early and Monaco striker Park Chu-Young added a penalty in second-half stoppage time to beat Japan for the second time in three months.
Park needed only six minutes to open the scoring, after picking up the ball from a header by Japan's Gamba Osaka midfielder Yasuhito Endo, and finding the goal with his right foot from just outside the area.
South Korean coach Huh Jung-Moo said: "My players never lost their nerve and concentrated very well until the end. I think that is the key to the victory."
Huh said he aimed to take South Korea, who reached the 2002 World Cup semifinals at home, beyond the 2010 group stage, in which they will face Greece, Argentina and Nigeria.
"My players played their own play until the end. I'm happy about it. But we must improve on our counter-attacks, we need to do it more sharply."
Huh singled out Park Chu-Young, now back from hamstring injury, for special praise after the Monaco hitman won the penalty - for being felled by goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki - that he duly dispatched in the dying minutes.
"I was just disappointed that I didn't send Park Chu-Young on to the pitch earlier," Huh said.
Park Ji-Sung, 29, who joined Manchester United in 2005 after playing in Japan and the Netherlands, observed after the match: "The level of the Japanese national team is lower than the time when I played in Japan."
In a game of few chances, Japan's best opportunity in the first half came in the 20th minute, when Vissel Kobe forward Yoshito Okubo shot wide, while CSKA Moscow midfielder Keisuke Honda's shot was saved by keeper Jung Sung-Ryong.
Huh changed his forward line at the interval to Park Chu-Young and Kim Nam-Il, but the visitors rarely looked like adding to their lead as the game threatened to peter out.
As they chased an equaliser, Okada sent on Catania striker Takayuki Morimoto to replace the struggling veteran Shunsuke Nakamura. Morimoto had a chance to score, but his sizzling shot in the 77th minute was saved.
Honda, who joined CSKA this year and helped the Russian side reach the UEFA Champions' League quarter-finals for the first time, said: "We were definitely outdone in individual skills, including myself.
"It was such a disastrous result but we will go to beat Cameroon," he added, referring to their opponents in their World Cup opener, on June 14.
Okada said he had asked Japan Football Association (JFA) president Motoaki Inukai about his tenure after the humiliating defeat by their bitter rivals, which has made his much-touted target of a semifinal spot in South Africa even more unrealistic.
"The president told me to 'go on' and I believe we will only have to go forward," Okada said. "It is not that I have lost my confidence but I wanted to ask him the question because he may also become the centre of debate."
Inukai kept faith with Okada in February when Japan lost to South Korea 3-1 in the East Asian championship in Tokyo, with both sides fielding only domestic league players.
But after the home-based stars were crushed for a second time, losing 3-0 to a second-string Serbia in April, Okada's credibility plunged.
In South Africa, Japan will be grouped with the Netherlands, Cameroon and Denmark for their fourth straight World Cup appearance since their winless debut under Okada in 1998.
Japan and South Korea on Monday were both at full strength with all their Europe-based stars present.
South Korea skipper and Manchester United winger Park Ji-Sung scored early and Monaco striker Park Chu-Young added a penalty in second-half stoppage time to beat Japan for the second time in three months.
Park needed only six minutes to open the scoring, after picking up the ball from a header by Japan's Gamba Osaka midfielder Yasuhito Endo, and finding the goal with his right foot from just outside the area.
South Korean coach Huh Jung-Moo said: "My players never lost their nerve and concentrated very well until the end. I think that is the key to the victory."
Huh said he aimed to take South Korea, who reached the 2002 World Cup semifinals at home, beyond the 2010 group stage, in which they will face Greece, Argentina and Nigeria.
"My players played their own play until the end. I'm happy about it. But we must improve on our counter-attacks, we need to do it more sharply."
Huh singled out Park Chu-Young, now back from hamstring injury, for special praise after the Monaco hitman won the penalty - for being felled by goalkeeper Seigo Narazaki - that he duly dispatched in the dying minutes.
"I was just disappointed that I didn't send Park Chu-Young on to the pitch earlier," Huh said.
Park Ji-Sung, 29, who joined Manchester United in 2005 after playing in Japan and the Netherlands, observed after the match: "The level of the Japanese national team is lower than the time when I played in Japan."
In a game of few chances, Japan's best opportunity in the first half came in the 20th minute, when Vissel Kobe forward Yoshito Okubo shot wide, while CSKA Moscow midfielder Keisuke Honda's shot was saved by keeper Jung Sung-Ryong.
Huh changed his forward line at the interval to Park Chu-Young and Kim Nam-Il, but the visitors rarely looked like adding to their lead as the game threatened to peter out.
As they chased an equaliser, Okada sent on Catania striker Takayuki Morimoto to replace the struggling veteran Shunsuke Nakamura. Morimoto had a chance to score, but his sizzling shot in the 77th minute was saved.
Honda, who joined CSKA this year and helped the Russian side reach the UEFA Champions' League quarter-finals for the first time, said: "We were definitely outdone in individual skills, including myself.
"It was such a disastrous result but we will go to beat Cameroon," he added, referring to their opponents in their World Cup opener, on June 14.
