Japan 2-0 Scotland
Friendly
Sat 10th October 2009
19:20 (11:20 UK)
Nissan Stadium, Yokohama (A)
Att: 61,285
C Gordon
S Whittaker
C Berra
S McManus(C)
L Wallace
G Caldwell
R Wallace (D Cowie 46)
C Adam (S Hughes 67)
C Conway (D Riordan 74)
G Dorrans
L Miller (S Fletcher 46)
Manager:
George Burley
FIFA Ranking: 30
Berra(og 82)
Honda(89)
E Kawashima
D Iwamasa
A Uchida (Y Okubo 65)
Y Abe
H Hashimoto (Y Tokunaga 65)
J Inamoto (Y Komano 81)
Y Konno
K Nakamura
N Ishikawa (D Matsui 65)
K Honda
R Maeda (T Morimoto 56)
FIFA Ranking: 40
Key: Goals Missed Penalty Red Card
| 1 | Craig Gordon (Sunderland) | (38 Caps) | Age: 26 | ||
| 3 | Steven Whittaker (Rangers) | (4 Caps) | Age: 25 | ||
| 4 | Stephen McManus (Celtic) Captain | (21 Caps) | Age: 27 | ||
| 5 | Gary Caldwell (Celtic) |  |
(35 Caps) | Age: 27 | |
| 8 | Graham Dorrans (West Bromwich Albion) | (1 Cap) | Age: 22 | ||
| 10 | Charlie Adam (Blackpool) | (3 Caps) | Age: 23 | ||
| 11 | Craig Conway (Dundee Utd) | (1 Cap) | Age: 24 | ||
| 13 | Christophe Berra (Wolves) | (6 Caps) | Age: 24 | ||
| 15 | Lee Wallace (Hearts) | (1 Cap) | Age: 22 | ||
| 17 | Lee Miller (Aberdeen) | (3 Caps) | Age: 26 | ||
| 18 | Ross Wallace (Preston North End) | (1 Cap) | Age: 24 | ||
| 6 | Stephen Hughes (Coventry City) | (1 Cap) | Age: 26 | ||
| (Replaced Charlie Adam 67 min) | |||||
| 9 | Steven Fletcher (Burnley) | (6 Caps) | Age: 22 | ||
| (Replaced Lee Miller 46 min) | |||||
| 16 | Derek Riordan (Hibernian) | (2 Caps) | Age: 26 | ||
| (Replaced Craig Conway 74 min) | |||||
| 19 | Don Cowie (Watford) | (1 Cap) | Age: 26 | ||
| (Replaced Ross Wallace 46 min) | |||||
Yellow Card  Red Card  Double Booking  Goals Scored  Penalty Save |
|||||
18 Ross Wallace
Friendly
Sat 10th October 2009
19:20 (11:20 UK)
Nissan Stadium, Yokohama (A)
Att: 61,285
The build up to the friendly against Japan was eventful. When the squad was first named players such as McFadden, Miller, Weir and Alexander were rested. In the next week 10 players withdrew from the squad including Darren Fletcher, Hutton, Brown, Maloney, Naismith and O'Connor. This left Burley with a very depleted squad full of fringe players that he could experiment with.
Scotland started with 4 debutants, and a further 3 came off the bench. The first half had litte action but the inexperienced Scotland team held their own. In the second half Japan upped the pressure. They came close when Gordon palmed away a free kick by Honda and Uchida put the rebound past the post from a tight angle. Scotland's best chance of the match came with 20 minutes remaining. Debutant Don Cowie played the ball through to Steven Fletcher who rounded the keeper only for him to stick a foot out and tackle him. Calamity struck with 8 minutes remaining. Komano played a great ball into the box, only for Berra to stick out his foot and divert it past Gordon for an own goal. In the final minute McManus blocked a Komano shot and the rebound fell to Honda who placed the ball past Gordon to seal a 2-0 win. The result was unfair to many inexperienced players who played well, and are hoping to challenge for a regular place for Scotland.