SHIZUOKA -- "I don't think it was a defeat," Japan manager Philippe Troussier said Monday of Japan's performance in the Sydney Olympics, a day after the Summer Games ended.
"Of course, I'm feeling vexed as we couldn't reach the semifinals," Troussier told reporters at a hotel in Shizuoka Prefecture. "But who would have imagined a year ago that we would be feeling this way?"
At the Summer Games, Japan advanced to the quarterfinals with a 2-0-1 record for the first time since 1968 in Mexico, when the nation last won a soccer medal (bronze). But this time, Japan bowed out of the tournament 5-4 on penalties to the United States after battling to a 2-2 draw in their quarterfinal.