National team manager Vahid Halilhodzic branded Japan's 3-3 draw with Haiti on Tuesday "the worst match I have seen" and warned his players to shape up or be humiliated in next month's friendlies against Brazil and Belgium.
"I've been a manager for many years and I've never seen a match as bad as this," Halilhodzic told reporters after Shinii Kagawa had saved Japan from an embarrassing friendly defeat to the Caribbean minnows with a 92nd-minute equalizer at Nissan Stadium.
"People would think I was ridiculous if I started talking about the World Cup after a match like this. I have to apologize to the supporters. They came out and created a great atmosphere, the perfect conditions for us to play in. We couldn't live up to that and that's my responsibility."
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.