Inamoto celebrates his decisive strike (Allsport)

Coach Philippe Troussier thanked the Japanese people for inspiring their country to a first-ever World Cup win.

The co-hosts beat Russia 1-0 thanks to a goal from Arsenal midfielder Junichi Inamoto.

"It is a huge moment for football in Japan that we are living right now," said French coach Troussier.

"This is important for both Japanese football and the nation.

"But I would like to stress that as well as the victory there is the way of playing and the manner.

"We want to show these fabulous people how much confidence they have given to us over the last four years.

"We want to give them back this confidence and show them this is something very special to us.

"We want to carry on and qualify and show the people in Japan that we can play marvellous football."

But rather than single out individuals, Troussier preferred to praise his team as a whole.

"We had a lot of pressure on our shoulders and tonight we saw a brilliant Japanese side playing, especially in this second game when we needed it," he said.

"I wish to congratulate the group because we knew before the tournament that the solidarity would be the key word for Japan and we had to play as a collective.

"They played together as a team and did a great job. I am very proud of being coach of this team.

"Everybody brought something important to the match and the whole performance would give them more confidence."

He now hopes they can go on to make the last 16 for the first time, but he warned they still have to finish the job.

"Our main goal is to go very far but some times football is very illogical so we are going to concentrate and show we can qualify in our next game," he said.

Japan playmaker Hidetoshi Nakata echoed the comments of his coach that the historic win was something to be shared.

``This victory was not about who scored, who did well, who did best, it is about everyone including those on the bench and the fans,'' he said.

``This is a victory that was earned by all of those.

``I would like to share this win with the coach and my team-mates and all the football fans around Japan who celebrated this win with us.''

The Parma playmaker hopes their performances at the World Cup can help raise the profile of Japanese football.

``Before this tournament and this victory we were not well known. We are far away from Europe and isolated from the great footballing nations,'' he said.

``I now hope people around the world will recognise Japan as a great footballing nation.''

Russia, meanwhile, will be knocked out of the top two in Group H if Belgium beat Tunisia.

However they know that victory over the Belgians in their final game will see them through to the last 16.

``The only consolation is that the tournament is going on and we have another game to play,'' said assistant coach Mikhail Gershkovich.

``What we do like is that everything is in our own hands. We win and we go forward.''

Gershkovich was annoyed that the Russians gave away possession too much, although the inquest to the defeat will be saved for another day.

``In the first half we kept losing the ball and couldn't control the game,'' he said.

``After the break we were better than the Japanese and had a few chances, but no luck.

``But we won't be talking about it to the players tonight because we know they suffer a lot in defeat.

``We know the feeling they have inside because we have all been players, but tomorrow we will study the game step by step and make our final analysis.''