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Jubilant Japan go through, Tunisia out

Morishima celebrates Japan's opening goal

OSAKA, Japan -- Nationwide celebrations erupted in Japan after the World Cup co-hosts clinched a place in the second round of the tournament for the first time with a 2-0 win over Tunisia in their final group game.

Hiroaki Morishima and Hidetoshi Nakata delighted the army of blue-shirted fans in Osaka's Nagai stadium with goals in the second half.

Substitute Morishima used his first touch to perfection, pouncing on a loose ball in the 48th minute and fired truly past goalkeeper Ali Boumnijel from 10 meters out.

Five minutes later Morishima almost made it two when his glancing header hit the foot of the post after good work from Daisuke Ichikawa, who had replaced Junichi Inamoto after halftime.

But Nakata sealed the three points when he met another right-wing cross from Ichikawa to head firmly past Boumnijel from close range in the 75th minute and spark delirium among the crowd of 42,213.

Tunisia rarely threatened despite needing to win by two clear goals to go through after taking just one point from their previous two games.

They were limited to a long-range effort from striker Ziad Jaziri that flew wide in the 38th minute and a speculative overhead kick from substitute Ali Zitouni midway through the second half.

Japan's Junichi Inamoto rises above Tunisia's Slim Ben Achour

Japan, who lost all three matches at their World Cup debut in France in 1998, needed only a point to advance after a 2-2 draw against Belgium and 1-0 win over Russia in their first two matches.

The Asian champions top Group H with 7 points and will play Group C runner's up Turkey on Tuesday in Miyaki.

Belgium also go through to the second round after their 3-2 comeback against Russia in Friday's other Group H game. (Russia v Belgium)

The Belgians will play Group C winners Brazil on Monday in Kobe.

Japan: Seigo Narazaki; Naoki Matsuda, Junichi Inamoto, Hidetoshi Nakata, Takayuki Suzuki, Atsushi Yanagisawa, Koji Nakata, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (capt), Shinji Ono, Tomokazu Myojin, Kazuyuki Toda

Tunisia: Ali Boumnijel; Khaled Badra (capt), Ziad Jaziri, Hatem Trabelsi, Kaies Ghodhbane, Raouf Bouzaiene, Riadh Bouazizi, Radhi Jaidi, Slim Ben Achour, Mourad Melki, Clayton

Referee: Gilles Veissiere, France