Morashima lashes Japan into the lead (Allsport)

By Jason Hughes, PA International, Japan

Japan may have felt an earth tremor in the morning, but that was nothing to what reverberated around the country in the afternoon.

Six hours after a minor earthquake had shaken Tokyo, the Japanese football team brought the house down in Osaka as victory over Tunisia put them in the World Cup second round for the first time in their history.

And coach Philippe Troussier believes the wave of hysteria sweeping the country can take them to even greater glory.

"The fantastic support of the people has carried us from game to game and now into the second round," he said.

"Japanese football is not recognised as it should be, particularly in Europe.

"We have had a project that has been going for four years now and we have had the Japanese public behind us.

"We go into the next match with a lot of confidence and we are creating a lot of momentum around us."

As group winners, that game will be against Turkey in Miyagi on Tuesday with Japan avoiding a clash with four-time champions Brazil.

After a nervy opening 45 minutes, Troussier's half-time introduction of Hiroaki Morishima worked almost immediately with the midfielder scoring the opener three minutes after the restart.

Fellow half-time sub Daisuke Ichikawa then crossed for Hidetoshi Nakata to seal the win late on.

"This is a victory of the Japanese spirit, of the Japanese courage and the willingness to be aggressive by taking on the opponents," said Frenchman Troussier.

"We never worked out mathematically how we would qualify, we just always tried to play forward-looking, attacking football.

"I thought the players were nervous in the first half because they knew that they could not afford to concede a goal.

"I used my joker in Morishima. We got the goal and we relaxed into the game."

Perhaps the co-hosts feeling the weight of expectation from the 45,000 fans in Nagai Stadium had led to Japan's tentative start.

After Japan's fearless attacking in their first two games, their early unconfident play would have come as a surprise to the expectant Japanese public.

Nakata and Shinji Ono attempted to prompt a more urgent approach from midfield, while Junichi Inamoto's runs from deep again looked the most likely to bring about a breakthrough.

Atsushi Yanagisawa had Japan's first shot on target in the 33rd minute, Tunisia goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel saving the 20-yard left-foot strike low down.

Boumnijel's opposite number Seigo Narazaki was even more redundant in the first half, as the Africans limited themselves to the occasional counter-attack - a surprising tactic considering they needed a victory to have a chance of staying in the competition.

Coach Ammar Souayah denied they had been too negative.

"I think it is normal that you are cautious when you are playing against a team on its home ground," he said.

They did come out of their shell in the closing minutes of the half with Khaled Badra coming close with a header.

While in stoppage time, Kazuyuki Toda seemed to bring down Hatem Trabelsi in the area, but no penalty was forthcoming from referee Gilles Veissiere.

Three minutes after the restart and the deadlock was broken. Takayuki Suzuki raced down the right and after the ball broke loose to Morishima, he dispatched it into the net from eight yards.

The midfielder almost grabbed his second in the 53rd minute, only to see his header rebound back off the post into Boumnijel's arms.

Japan kept up the pressure, with Ono's downward header bringing a good save from Boumnijel.

After a promising brief spell from Tunisia, the Japanese reasserted their dominance in the 75th minute.

Ichikawa swung in a cross from the right, and Nakata threw himself at the ball to head home.

Tunisia almost grabbed a consolation eight minutes from time, only for Ali Zitouni's snap-shot from inside the area to cannon back off the crossbar.

The day though belonged to Japan, but as Troussier was keen to point out, it all started long before that.

"This is the culmination of many years of work, and it is worth it," he said.

Meanwhile Tunisia coach Ammar Souayah denied they were too negative as they went in search of the two-goal win that would have kept their tournament alive.

``I think it is normal that you are cautious when you are playing against a team on its home ground,'' he said.

``We were playing with one forward and two wide players so maybe we weren't that cautious.

``In the second half we created a goal at a crucial time and it was difficult to bounce back.''

Souayah did admit though that they expected to be knocked out in the group stages.

``It was never our aim to reach the second round,'' he said.

``Our objective was principally to put in a good performance and to show Tunisian football in the best possible light.''