For the next few days, Kazuki was seriously following the Japanese national team training. In addition, besides attending the training, he also took the time to answer several interviews with the media in Japan. Everyone was looking forward to Kazuki's first appearance in the Japanese national team. Meanwhile, slowly, the other players recognized Kazuki's ability. At a glance, it might not seem like anything stands out, but when someone looks at the whole, you can see how amazing things are about Kazuki's gameplay. First, the success ratio of Kazuki's long passes and crossings on the left wing is very good. Second, even though Kazuki couldn't always break through the defenders, at least he always stopped the opponent's possible counterattack by committing minor fouls or throwing the ball off the field. Of course, Kazuki's success in adapting to the left-wing position was due to the help of [Dream Training]. With continuous practice Kazuki got used to adapting on the left flank, it's normal for him to adapt quite immediately. Perhaps, one of the things that became his disadvantage playing on the left flank was Kazuki's lack of speed. It must be admitted that Kazuki's techniques and skills are not always able to make it past the right-back during training earlier. To deal with this, Kazuki even started to learn how to run better to increase his running speed. This lack of Kazuki was also seen by Arragon. He wondered what to do so that Kazuki could play to his fullest ability without breaking the strategy he had developed. A week had passed and the match between Japan and Oman is about to start. This match will take place at Saitama Stadium 2002, of course in the city of Saitama. In the afternoon, Japanese football fans began to enter the stadium with various attributes that showed their support for the Japanese national team, which was about to play. In the press conference before the match, the Oman coach stated that this will be a very difficult match for Oman because Japan is better than Oman. He also said that Oman would fight for the best possible outcome. Meanwhile, Arragon responded casually to the press conference, The only thing bothering Arragon was the question of why Kazuki wasn't starting this match. Arragon chose not to field Kazuki as a starter. Moreover, He would consider Kazuki to enter the second round. The main reason was that Arragon wanted to see the difference in Japan's national team gameplay when he was played Yuya Osaka as a left-winger and played Kazuki as a left-winger. Japan fielded a 4-3-3 formation in this match. In the goalkeeper position, there is Kawashima who will guard the goalpost. Two central defenders who will help Kawashima maintain Japan's defense are Yoshida and Konno. The right-back is filled by Uchida, while the left-back is filled by Nagamoto. The front three midfielders are occupied by Yamaguchi, Keisuke Honda, and Hasebe. The Japanese left-winger is Yuya Osaka, the striker is filled by Okazaki and the right-winger is Kagawa. With this line-up, Japan started the match. From the start of the match, Japan immediately dominated the game. They forced Oman to hide in the penalty box. The coordination and passes between players carried out by the Japanese national team were so smooth, while Oman also did not press so that Japan was more comfortable playing the ball in the Oman defense area. Although did not play aggressively, Oman managed to build a solid wall in front of the penalty box, which make it difficult for Japanese players to enter the penalty box. Attack after attack by the Japanese national team always failed in the penalty box. The build-up of Oman players in front of the goalpost makes it difficult for the Japanese national team players to penetrate the penalty box.
Even though Japan was very dominating, until the 15th minute, there had not been a single shot on target that was created. The quality of Oman's counterattack is quite easy to handle, but Japan is still struggling to score goals. This causes the match to be deadlocked. Arragon shook his head helplessly. Although Japan had been able to improve the quality of their short passes, short passes inside the Oman penalty box are very difficult to do. Even Barcelona has difficulty facing a layered defense like this, let alone Japan. Japanese players began to try a long shot from outside the penalty box. In the 23rd minute, Hasebe slipped through the Omani defensive midfielder to allow him to send a powerful shot from outside the box. Too bad, the Oman goalkeeper jumped in and caught the kick with ease. The direction of the shot was too predictable. Apart from kicks from outside the penalty box. Japan also got a free kick on the left side of the Oman defense. Kagawa will take the free-kick. After the referee blew the whistle, Kagawa kicked the ball past under the feet of the Omani players, who became the human fence. The ball managed to go into the corner of the goalpost, unfortunately, it hit the post and bounced the other way. In the 34th minute, Japan, who was still in control of the ball, conceded first. The Omani counterattack, which Oman had always carried out, now had been successfully executed. Konno failed to receive the ball well, then a quick sprint by the Omani striker allowed him to get the ball before Konno. The Oman striker brought the ball wildly into the Japanese penalty box. Kawashima stepped up to ambush the ball, but the Omani striker got past Kawashima and scored. The Japanese national team fans looked disappointed with this goal. After seeing the Japanese national team attack continuously, they are of course frustrated to see Oman easily score goals. Subsequently, after the goal, Japan started kick-off again. Then, they immediately attacked Oman in full force. Aggressive attacks continued to be launched by the Japanese national team players. However, the performance of the Oman goalkeeper tonight was great. He managed to thwart two opportunities owned by Japan. First a volley from Okazaki, second he also saved a hard kick from Kagawa. Fortunately, before the first half ended, Japan finally managed to break into Oman's goalpost. The beautiful teamwork between Keisuke Honda, Kagawa, and Okazaki resulted in a penalty. The Oman center-back brought down Honda, who dribbled the ball in the penalty box. Hasebe became the executor of the penalty this time. Under the gazes of tens of thousands of people, Hasebe managed to execute the opportunity well. The 1-1 score was maintained until the end of the first half. Although this result is quite good for Oman, but for Japan, it is not an ideal result. World cup qualification is very important, Japan must collect as many points as possible in this fourth qualifying round, so they can ensure the Japanese team will compete in the world cup quickly. At the beginning of the second half, the coach of the Japanese national team fielded Kazuki to replace Yuya Osaka, who appeared unsatisfactory on the left side.