Shinji Kagawa showed exactly why he has Manchester United and a host of other leading European clubs on his trail Wednesday, scoring with a cracking finish to put Japan on the way to a 2-0 win over Azerbaijan in a warmup for next month's World Cup qualifiers.
The Borussia Dortmund star struck three minutes before the interval and also had a hand in the second goal, scored by Shinji Okazaki, before making way for Arsenal starlet Ryo Miyaichi to make his eagerly anticipated senior national team debut midway through the second half at Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa.
Hiroki Sakai and Hideto Takahashi also won their first caps and CSKA Moscow midfielder Keisuke Honda had a solid outing after a nine-month injury-related absence in Japan's last game before three World Cup qualifiers against Oman, Jordan and Australia.