PRETORIA — Japan boss Takeshi Okada has told his players to fight for continental pride when they take on Paraguay on Tuesday with a place in the World Cup history books on the line.
Japan is the only Asian team left in the competition after bitter rival and 2002 World Cup co-host South Korea became the first team to crash out of the round of 16 with a 2-1 defeat to Uruguay on Saturday.
"South Korea delivered a great performance and it is a real shame that they could not win," Okada told reporters after the team's first training session here after leaving their base camp in George earlier in the day.