Alberto Zaccheroni's Japan suffered its first ever home defeat as the Asian champions went down 1-0 at the hands of Uzbekistan in a World Cup qualifier on Wednesday night.
Aleksandr Shadrin scored the lone goal of the game in the second half for an Uzbekistan team that was without five suspended players, including Asian Player of the Year Server Djeparov.
The Uzbeks finished the third qualifying round on top of Group C, ahead of Japan by six points. Both teams had already qualified for the final round, which begins in June. The final draw is on March 9.