Asia's World Cup challenge wilted further yesterday when Japan's 48-year wait for a place on the global football stage ended in a 1-0 Group H defeat by former double champions Argentina.
A day after South Korea's defeat by Mexico, Japan can at least look to a first World Cup final appearance that had plenty of fire and passion - but woefully lacked striking power.
The scoreline does not adequately reflect that Argentina were never in any real danger of dropping a point let alone face defeat against a Japanese side who showed flashes of real class but could not sustain the pressure required against a side of this power and experience.
Not that Argentina looked in the same class as the side of 1986 in Mexico but they can build on this - a point made by coach Daniel Passarella, captain of their 1978 World Cup-winning side.
'I was quite happy with the result and I know that we can play better than this. The Japanese side were very quick and they did cause us some concern. But I think that we could have scored more and not left the game so open for so long.
'It is not easy to score many goals at this level of football so when a chance comes, if you do not take it, that is silly and dangerous.' Although the game never reached any great heights it was played out in a carnival atmosphere at the homely Stade Municipal where hundreds of Japanese fans were left without tickets and simply turned up in the hope of getting admittance.