Havenaar hands Japan friendly win

Mike Havenaar scored the only goal to give Japan a 1-0 win over the United Arab Emirates on Thursday in a warm-up game for next week's FIFA World Cup™ qualifiers. Yuichi Komano sent over a pinpoint cross from the left into the area, where the UAE's goalkeeper Ali Khaseif Humaid leapt to save without success, allowing the Vitesse Arnhem striker to head home in the 69th minute. "I hadn't scored for a while recently, so I feel relieved that I did today," said Havenaar. "But our next game is more important, I want to get a solid result in that," Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni said he used the game to check out his team ahead of their  qualifier against Iraq next week. "I also wanted to see how well my players work and how well my team work," he said. "We had both negative and positive elements today." Japan will face Iraq next Tuesday at Saitama Stadium, leading Group B with seven points. Australia, Iraq and Oman each have two points, ahead of Jordan on one. FIFA